Britain’s ability to defend itself depends on how quickly it can move people and equipment, sustain operations and keep essential services functioning under pressure. Every deployment relies on a network of transport, infrastructure, energy, information and skilled people. Preparing that network is a central challenge for national security.
The Adaptive Capacity Alliance (ACA), launched in 2026, addresses this challenge by bringing the Ministry of Defence and industry together to prepare for greater demands on national capacity. Facilitated by Team Defence Information, the Alliance’s inaugural meeting was held in May 2026. It is aligned with the Defence Industrial Joint Council’s Readiness and Resilience Working Group and the Defence Industrial Strategy’s commitments on mobilisation.
For Universal Defence and Security Solutions (UDSS), the Alliance’s significance lies in the practical challenge it addresses: translating strategic ambition into capabilities that can be used when needed.
What the Adaptive Capacity Alliance is designed to do
Adaptive Capacity aims to give Defence assured, pre-agreed access to industrial capabilities that complement its own resources in crisis and war. Its scope includes logistics, warehousing, distribution, ports, energy and specialist workforces.
The Alliance provides a setting in which Defence and industry can explore requirements, build relationships and test arrangements through exercises and wargames. Team Defence Information describes an ambition to improve readiness over the first three years while supporting transformation over a ten-year horizon.
The distinction between capacity existing and capacity being available is crucial. A commercial operator may possess vehicles, storage space or specialist equipment, but those assets already serve customers. Their usefulness to Defence depends on notice periods, staffing, location, competing demands and the arrangements governing their use.
Effective preparation therefore requires a detailed understanding of what businesses could provide, under which conditions, and for how long.
The connection to the Strategic Defence Review 2025
Published on 2 June 2025, the UK’s Strategic Defence Review set a direction centred on warfighting readiness, closer industrial partnership and wider participation in national resilience. It positioned defence as a responsibility extending across government, industry and society.
Its treatment of the Strategic Base is particularly relevant. The Review identified weaknesses in the capacity and resilience of the foundations from which the Armed Forces deploy. It argued that the Strategic Base should be treated as a front-line capability and called for partnerships with government and the private sector to strengthen infrastructure and resilience.
Seen against those recommendations, the ACA offers a practical route towards the Review’s ambitions. Its focus on industrial capacity connects the national economy to the operational requirements of the Armed Forces.
Our assessment is that this connection will become increasingly important as Defence tests its ability to mobilise and sustain activity. A force’s readiness depends on the reliability of every essential link supporting it. A delay in transport, an unavailable specialist workforce or a disrupted information system can constrain the options available to commanders.
Testing the arrangements before they are needed
Chief of Defence and Logistics Support Vice Admiral Andy Kyte’s explanation of Adaptive Capacity places particular emphasis on action and learning through experience. He cites the use of regional seaports and commercial ferries to move the British Army for RHINO STORM as an example of putting the approach into practice. He also describes the Alliance as a framework for developing relationships, testing ideas and exchanging data.
That emphasis matters because exercises expose the assumptions that planning alone can miss.
Consider an illustrative deployment requiring additional freight capacity at short notice. Identifying a port and a ferry operator would be only the beginning. Planners would need to establish whether suitable loading facilities were available, whether onward routes could accommodate the traffic, whether crews and handlers could be provided, and how commercial obligations would affect the schedule.
Testing that sequence would reveal where the plan depends on a single supplier, a scarce skill or an unverified assumption. It would also give businesses a clearer understanding of military requirements and give Defence a more realistic picture of commercial constraints.
Each exercise should lead to specific changes: an identified owner for a problem, a revised arrangement and a further test of whether the weakness has been resolved.
What industry should prepare to contribute
Logistics UK highlights the importance of understanding how the national logistics network is connected and how it would respond under pressure. Its President, Phil Roe, was invited to co-chair the ACA, reinforcing the involvement of the commercial logistics sector.
For businesses considering involvement, a useful starting point is an honest assessment of four areas:
- Available capacity: What could the organisation provide, where, at what notice and for what duration?
- Dependencies: Which people, suppliers, systems and infrastructure must remain available for that contribution to work?
- Decision-making: Who can authorise a change in priorities, commit resources and coordinate with Defence?
- Evidence: What has been tested, and what remains an assumption?
These questions should be considered alongside civilian responsibilities. Transport, energy and distribution businesses already support essential economic and social activity. Mobilisation planning needs to account for those obligations and identify competing demands early.
Clear requirements and credible engagement also help businesses make investment decisions. Companies need enough understanding of the potential demand to judge whether additional training, equipment or capacity is commercially sustainable.
Where UDSS can contribute
UDSS has a direct connection to the thinking behind the Strategic Defence Review through its Co-Chair, General Sir Richard Barrons, who co-led the 2025 Review. Its published expertise includes military strategy and operational planning, logistics support, infrastructure management, acquisition and digital transformation.
UDSS has also articulated the importance of connecting strategy, operations, technology and the industrial base, helping organisations understand how their capabilities can contribute to defence outcomes.
Applied to the challenge of adaptive capacity, that expertise offers a basis for helping organisations understand military demand, assess their dependencies and develop practical plans for contributing to readiness.
A productive advisory engagement could begin with a defined operational problem: a deployment timeline, a sustainment requirement or an infrastructure constraint. From there, businesses can assess where their capabilities are relevant, what adaptations would be necessary and which assumptions need testing with the appropriate stakeholders.
Making readiness measurable
The Alliance’s long-term value should be judged by improvements in the availability and reliability of support. Useful measures could include shorter activation times, a clearer view of critical dependencies, workable alternatives when infrastructure is disrupted and demonstrated capacity to sustain activity.
These are proposed measures of success, rather than claims about results already achieved.
The immediate opportunity is to make national preparedness more concrete. Defence can articulate the support it needs. Industry can explain what it can deliver. Together, they can test whether the arrangements work.
For organisations considering their contribution, UDSS brings relevant strategic and operational expertise to that preparation. Contact UDSS to discuss how your capabilities, infrastructure and people could support the UK’s evolving defence readiness requirements.