Delivering network enabled capability: Industrial, procurement & policy challenges for the UK

The New Chapter of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR NC) published in July 2002 and the Defence White Paper published in December 2003 reinforced the growing importance of Network Enabled Capability (NEC) to the way the United Kingdom will choose to conduct future military operations. A great deal of attention has been paid to the implications of these developments for operational concepts, doctrine and coalition war fighting but there is a growing recognition that the delivery of NEC may also have significant implications for the supporting defence industrial and procurement infrastructure. NEC comprises three core elements: sensors, a network; and, strike assets. This report describes the main UK investments in the NEC vision, current and anticipated procurement programmes and the principal contractors; considers the defence industrial issues arising from the pursuit of NEC; assesses the procurement challenges presented by NEC; discusses some of the broader policy issues faced by the UK government as it seeks to develop NEC; and, considers the progress the UK has made towards its vision of NEC and the implications of the UK experience for Sweden.