Good encapsulation of our long running issues around defence procurement. One facet that has had very little discussion and would, I believe, greatly help the ability of government to increase defence spending and improve the efficiency of relationships with industry is explaining to the wider population the threat and why deterrence is the only true route to National Security. Ben Wallace bought this up recently in the Defence Select Committee. Politicians need to properly explain the importance of deterrence, the public needs to understand the real issues and why it is so vital to go back to 5% or 6% of GDP for defence. The politicians need to do the hard yards, they need to remember the first duty of a government and they need to take the public with them.
Excellent framing on the manufacturing bottleneck issue. The point about defense companies elongating programs beyond operational relevance really captures why procurement cycles are so sclerotic comapred to what we saw in COVID-19 or WWII. Modular off-the-shelf tech paired with simplified requirements sounds right, but implementation will probly hit resistance from entrenched suppliers who thrive on complexity and long timelines.
Sadly, the senior officers and civil servants are failing to follow the logic of this author and associated experience. I made similar points before the Afghanistan-Iraq mess but was often shut down - my recommendations being ignored were proven to be accurate within a very short period.
Good encapsulation of our long running issues around defence procurement. One facet that has had very little discussion and would, I believe, greatly help the ability of government to increase defence spending and improve the efficiency of relationships with industry is explaining to the wider population the threat and why deterrence is the only true route to National Security. Ben Wallace bought this up recently in the Defence Select Committee. Politicians need to properly explain the importance of deterrence, the public needs to understand the real issues and why it is so vital to go back to 5% or 6% of GDP for defence. The politicians need to do the hard yards, they need to remember the first duty of a government and they need to take the public with them.
Excellent framing on the manufacturing bottleneck issue. The point about defense companies elongating programs beyond operational relevance really captures why procurement cycles are so sclerotic comapred to what we saw in COVID-19 or WWII. Modular off-the-shelf tech paired with simplified requirements sounds right, but implementation will probly hit resistance from entrenched suppliers who thrive on complexity and long timelines.
Sadly, the senior officers and civil servants are failing to follow the logic of this author and associated experience. I made similar points before the Afghanistan-Iraq mess but was often shut down - my recommendations being ignored were proven to be accurate within a very short period.