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General Sir Richard Barron's Delivers techUK Defence Spring Dinner Keynote Speech

On 25 May, UDSS Co Chairman General Sir Richard Barrons delivered the keynote speech at the techUK Defence Spring Dinner.

techUK has seen many unexpected events in the 10 years since it was formed: the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014; the shambolic exit from Afghanistan in 2021; Mr Trump’s Presidency rattling the foundations of Western security; Brexit; and the Covid pandemic. Perhaps, above all of these, the past decade has unequivocally seen the end of the post-Cold War era in which the West thrived and the dawn of a new era of great power confrontation. Now we need to think again about how to manage potential existential risks to our security, prosperity and values.

So the 2023 techUK Defence Dinner is different: 

  • There is major war just 24hrs drive from Berlin, a war for territory despite many thinking that Europe had grown out of this; a war at scale – a 900 mile front line, some 300,000 military and civilian casualties so far, with 17m Ukrainians displaced and a shattering effect on much of the global economy. This is a war for the survival of a state who wants to be European, to be like us. 
  • The war in Ukraine is a symptom of the expanding division between Autocratic Capitalism and Liberal Democracy for how world works, with many states we once counted as our partners hedging their bets on who to back. It is just part of a new strategic landscape dominated by the rise of China as a Superpower to challenge the US for global influence; concurrent with mankind clearly struggling with the viability of its only planet, plus all the effects of the Digital Age. This century is becoming a competition for survival, for a share of finite resources, and for determining what the rules for global life are to be. We understand this predicament quite well, but we have yet to find the winning formula for succeeding in it or commit to paying the bill. 

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trade association, techUK

 

A big part of the answer to all of this is us – techUK – because it is about technology. So what do we see?

  • We see the biggest transformation of Defence and Security since the early 1900s getting underway. This will certainly mean new equipment but also really shake up organisation, method and tactics. We are searching for the Uber of precision strike, for the Airbnb of ISR.
  • We know this transformation is about the application of innovation and technology created in the civil sector to Defence and Security. We – techUK – set the pace.
  • Our military customers know what they need to achieve. They need to deter, defeat, attack, stabilise, contribute to hybrid campaigns, and be far more resilient. We also know that our military customers do not really know how technology will drive this. There can be no definitive specification to compete for, taking 25 years to get from concept to a super-complicated, ever changing and hopelessly out of date demand. This is going to be about partnerships at pace.
  • We know that the military acquisition system has a history of being built on overly complex public sector governance regimes used to long procurement cycles. This must adjust to spiral change and go faster to maintain advantage. This too is going to be about partnership.
  • Finally and arguably most importantly, we are now in a race where the benchmarks for winning are set by our opponents and our allies.  We must keep up or risk extinction at the roadside like all stragglers. We must learn to win, knowing that gazing at our navels in our own comfort zones will not be enough.

So what?

  • We – techUK – should see ourselves as conceptually and actually on a war-footing. We must be the innovation behind the NATO New Strategic Concept.
  • 2024 in the UK is a General Election Year and most likely will also see a Defence Review. We need to see an industrial policy that connects techUK and others in the new partnership between government, the Armed Forces, industry, and civil society that is essential to succeed in perilous times. This industrial policy is the link that will not only fix our Defence for the Digital Age but also boost prosperity through higher skills and more exports. This is the message we must all carry to Parliament, the Government, the Armed Forces, banking and the media.
  • We need to build better bridges to the Armed Forces as they try and frame what they need to become to succeed in the 21st century. Of course a lot of this is part of current business, but we need to redouble our outreach to create more opportunities to be more collaborative. Bridges will lead to stronger partnerships and less transactional sparring. 
  • Our approach cannot just be about the UK because investing in Collective Security is the only realistic and affordable strategy. NATO is at the core of this, and so too is a relationship with EU Members given that our geography has not changed.

The good news is that despite the risks we all now confront, we can be confident that techUK can be central to restoring Defence and Security for the tribulations of the 21st century, and in so doing will generate growth-led prosperity in the UK and secure greater exports abroad.  There is plenty to get after.

This article originally appeared on techUK.