The Ministry of Defence has appointed Rupert Pearce as the UK’s National Armaments Director (NAD) and member of the Defence Board (4* / Perm Sec grade).
With more than four decades across law, technology, telecoms, energy and venture capital, including nine years as CEO of Inmarsat plc leading major satellite launches, building aviation/maritime/defence government units, and taking the company private, Rupert brings the blend of industrial leadership, capital markets fluency and delivery focus the role demands.
The Strategic Defence Review 2025, externally led by Lord Robertson, General Sir Richard Barrons (UDSS Co-Chair), and Dr Fiona Hill, sets a plan to move Defence to warfighting readiness, make NATO “first”, and turn Defence into an engine for growth through a reset with industry.
Within that plan, the NAD is pivotal:
Industrial & procurement reform. The SDR establishes an £11bn “Invest” annual budget under the NAD to fund affordable front-line capability and grow the UK industrial base—paired with radical procurement reform to fix a system repeatedly judged “broken.”
Segmented acquisition at speed. Defence shifts to three lanes—major modular platforms (≤2 years), spiral upgrades (≤1 year), and rapid commercial exploitation (≤3 months)—with ≥10% of the equipment budget protected for novel tech. The NAD owns the levers to make this real.
Innovation pull-through. Two organisations sit under the NAD: Defence Research & Evaluation (early-stage S&T with academia) and UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) to harness dual-use commercial tech, with a ring-fenced £400m annual budget and quarterly accountability to the SofS.
Exports and alliances. The SDR returns responsibility for defence exports to the MOD, calls for a new Defence Exports Office, and directs the NAD to mainstream exports and capability partnerships (AUKUS/GCAP) into procurement from the outset.
Productivity & readiness. The NAD is assigned productivity KPIs and in-year portfolio flex to shift resources, embed through-life affordability, and strengthen supply-chain resilience.
Pearce’s record, standing up high-IP businesses, delivering complex constellations and networks, scaling across regulated global markets, and navigating one of the LSE’s largest take-private deals, maps directly to the SDR’s demands on the NAD: faster acquisition, deeper industry partnership, export growth, and investment-grade delivery discipline.
Faster, outcome-based competitions with evergreen commercial models, digital twins, and a wider supplier base—from primes to startups.
Closer investor engagement (Defence Investors’ Advisory Group) to crowd in private capital and speed scaling of dual-use tech.
A joined-up Defence Industrial Strategy led by the NAD and the Defence Growth Board, measuring success in more, bigger UK deep-tech suppliers and export share, not just platform counts.
UDSS welcomes Rupert Pearce to a role central to executing the Review our Co-Chair helped shape. The NAD’s success is the hinge between strategy and delivery turning intent on innovation, industry, exports and readiness into outcomes that deter today and equip tomorrow. As Defence reforms bed in, we will continue supporting Government and industry to navigate the new model, from strategy design and stakeholder engagement to market entry, export frameworks and programme delivery, so the UK gets the capability, at the pace, the era requires.
Download a copy of the 2025 UK Strategic Defence Review: