The United Kingdom plans to step up its investment in cutting-edge new technologies like robotics and automation, and will create a new technology hub inspired by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental, the U.K. Defense Minister Michael Fallon said on Friday.
Like the United States, the U.K. military is worried that it may be losing its technical advantage. In response, the U.K defense ministry plans to invest $1.5 billion into an “innovation fund” for spending on cyber, robotics, autonomy and space, he said during a speech at the Atlantic Council.
“Your own Third Offset Strategy addresses the erosion of the west’s technological edge,” he said, speaking of a forthcoming U.S. plan to push defense technology forward. “Our strategic review also recognizes the need to keep ahead of our adversaries.”
The U.K. defense ministry also is standing up a new innovation cell in its “Defence Solutions Center” (UKDSC) to help it do more outreach to innovative commercial and small businesses. Modeled after the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental (DIUx) near Silicon Valley, an outpost spearheaded by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to expand engagement with commercial industry, the cell will help identify game-changing technologies and potential private sector vendors.
Fallon said he has been impressed by the way the Defense Department has been able to tap into smaller, high-tech companies.
“Traditionally we’ve put tenders out, and we’ve said, ‘We want a frigate, or we want a plane. Who wants to build this for us?’” he said. “What we’ve not said to our high-tech center is, you come and tell us what solutions you’ve got to some of the challenges, some of the technologies our adversaries are employing.”
Some of the funding will be available through innovation challenges, he said. According to the UKDSC website, the first round of challenges center on small, lightweight sensors and communications, autonomy, data analysis and simulation and training.
The United Kingdom plans to spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, and over the next decade will spend $265 billion on new military equipment, Fallon said. It has also set a goal that 25 percent of all defense spending goes to small companies.
Fallon also called for the Defense Department to increase its partnership with British defense companies and suppliers.
“As we become a stronger partner of yours, I want to see that relationship become more of a two way street,” he said. The United Kingdom has made a point to invest in shared platforms like the nine Boeing [BA] P-8 maritime multi-mission aircraft it plans to buy and the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper. “We’re investing more in you, and we’re going to expect more from you as well.
“I want to see more contracts in the supply chain flowing from the majors through to British companies,” he said. The United States and United Kingdom are already cooperating in areas such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the prime contractor, but British vendors build 15 percent of each aircraft. The countries also plan to buy a common missile compartment for their nuclear submarines.