United Kingdom Defence Industrial Strategy: 1998-2023

Burridge, B. (2026) United Kingdom Defence Industrial Strategy: 1998-2023. PhD thesis, University of Reading. doi: 10.48683/1926.00129325

Abstract/Summary

This thesis sets out to investigate the role and effectiveness of defence industrial strategy (DIS) in addressing the performance shortfall in defence aerospace procurement projects and in securing the sustainability of the defence industrial base. In so doing, it assesses whether DIS successfully provided an equilibrium in the strategic triad of ends, ways and means. To this end, it offers an account of the main characteristics of the three versions of DIS (2005, 2022 and 2021) and their reception. It explores the topic further through three deliberately varied case studies on procurement - the Wildcat helicopter, the Crowsnest airborne radar and the Protector drone - and through twenty semi-structured elite interviews with both industrialists and civil servants. In conclusion, the research identified shortcomings in the formulation of DIS in the treatment of sovereign capability and operational independence, future technology requirements and the optimisation of the routes to contract. It also assessed that significant barriers to implementation arose because DIS objectives were not harmonised with the funding available in the equipment plan, rendering the strategies implausible through a lack of equilibrium between ends, ways and means. In addition, the delivery organisation’s structure militated against the adoption of strategic change and, despite the move towards partnerships, the long tradition of competitive procurement undermined harmonious relationships between MOD and industry. DIS has therefore had minimal impact on aerospace project performance. Industrial sustainability also received inadequate attention until the creation of sector strategies, and the reorientation to a more interventionist approach in DSIS 2021. The thesis recommends that a future DIS should be wider in scope and be subject to full cross-government endorsement if it is to deliver change and enhance the credibility aspect of the UK’s deterrence posture.

Item Type	Thesis (PhD)
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/129325
Identification Number/DOI	10.48683/1926.00129325
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Politics and International Relations
Date on Title Page	September 2025
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item