{"id":495396,"date":"2025-10-13T05:53:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T05:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/495396\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T05:53:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T05:53:23","slug":"dsei-uk-2025-report-1-examining-new-initiatives-for-agile-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/495396\/","title":{"rendered":"DSEI UK 2025 Report (1): Examining New Initiatives for \u201cAgile Acquisition\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>The DSEI UK booth of the UK Royal Navy, which promoted at the expo its Portsmouth Capability Accelerator for the rapid acquisition of innovative technologies.<\/p>\n

John Jacobs, Ph.D.<\/strong>
Analyst, NSBT Japan<\/strong><\/p>\n

At DSEI UK 2025, one of the world\u2019s largest defense industry exhibitions held at the Excel Centre in east London from September 9 to 12 and attended by NSBT Japan, key issues discussed by political, military and business leaders were how to guarantee more agile and rapid acquisition of defence equipment and technology and how to make supply chains more secure.<\/p>\n

Numerous conferences at the show were reserved not only for discussions on the salient challenges facing defense procurement and supply chain resilience, but also the highlighting of new innovative initiatives being pursued by governments, militarities and industry in order to address such key issues.<\/p>\n

British Initiatives: A New Defence Industrial Strategy & Capability Accelerators<\/strong><\/p>\n

A consistent message voiced at this year\u2019s DSEI UK by the political leadership in the United Kingdom (UK) was the need to invest in Defence as an \u201cengine for growth\u201d and to achieve fast, efficient, and agile procurement in order to secure the \u201cwarfighting readiness\u201d of the country\u2019s armed forces amid an increasingly volatile international security environment.<\/p>\n

A day prior to the opening of DSEI UK, the UK government published on September 8 its long-awaited Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS). The new document commits the government to \u201cREFORM<\/strong> procurement, INNOVATE<\/strong> at wartime pace, and GROW<\/strong> [the] industrial base.\u201d In the DIS, Secretary of State for Defence John Healey MP highlights a new \u00a3250 million investment designed to create new jobs and opportunities in support of a \u201cdefence dividend\u201d shared across the UK, as well as a pledge to \u201cmake it easier for British-based firms \u2013 including SMEs \u2013 to do business with the MOD\u201d.[1]<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>Three main procurement streams envisioned by the UK\u2019s Defence Industrial Strategy, September 2025.<\/p>\n

In a DSEI UK keynote address on September 10,[2] the recently appointed UK Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry, Luke Pollard MP, highlighted the need for UK MOD to speed up its procurement and contracting processes, and to quickly acquire relevant emerging technologies that are innovative and agile. This in turn requires a cultural shift in the ministry\u2019s approach to risk ratios in contracting to reflect a volatile security environment that is between peace and war.<\/p>\n

The minister noted that DIS\u2019 objective is to establish an agile defense industry in support of a UK armed forces capable of contributing to the warfighting deterrence of an \u201calliance of nations\u201d. In this regard, while the UK\u2019s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) asserts that \u201cNATO first\u201d is expected to represent the UK\u2019s primary area of operations as being in the Euro-Atlantic, Pollard stressed this does not preclude an active UK role in the wider world, referencing in particular the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) deployment to the Indo-Pacific.<\/p>\n

\"Luke<\/a>Luke Pollard MP, UK Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry, taking questions after his keynote speech at DSEI UK, September 9, 2025.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, while the newly released DIS aims \u201cto make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a defence business,\u201d[3] Pollard nevertheless acknowledged the presence of significant barriers to industry engagement with the UK MOD. Most notably, the minister recognized that UK MOD was too slow and needed to speed up its procurement, learn to adopt a culture that accepts greater risk-taking and the implementation of a \u201cspiral development\u201d procurement model[4] in order to achieve both warfighting readiness and economic growth.<\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s DSEI, political messaging regarding the UK forces\u2019 continuing international role and the need for reform to facilitate agile procurement was also highlighted by the UK\u2019s top military leadership. In a Naval Forum panel on September 9,[5] UK Royal Navy Commodore Marcel Rosenberg, Commander of the Naval Base in Portsmouth, highlighted the modern day Royal Navy\u2019s international orientation, as exemplified by ther service\u2019s leadership of the world-wide deployed multinational CSG.<\/p>\n

\"Commodore<\/a>Commodore Marcel Rosenberg, Commander, H.M. Naval Base, Portsmouth \u2013 Royal Navy, speaking at DSEI UK on September 9, 2025.<\/p>\n

Commodore Rosenberg went on to highlight how the new DIS seeks to establish a new partnership between government, industry, workers and the armed forces to revolutionize the delivery of defense capabilities.<\/p>\n

In the navy context, a key initiative highlighted was the recent establishment of a \u201cCapability Accelerator\u201d at Portsmouth Naval Base. Described by the Commodore as an \u201calternative acquisition pathway\u201d developed in partnership with Defence, industry and academia to exploit commercial off-the-shelf capabilities, the Accelerator is \u201cdelivering the [DIS]\u201d through its focus \u201con short-life cycle, innovative capability, software, equipment, agile and rapid delivery with a focus on autonomy\u201d.[6]<\/p>\n

The Royal Navy\u2019s objectives for the new Accelerator include streamlining the acquisition process, facilitating industry\u2019s early engagement with decision-makers, and to reduce barriers of entry for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Thus, the Portsmouth-based initiative has been structured like a pre-approved club and will feature company membership that goes beyond those firms that are currently contract holders with the UK MOD in order to provide opportunities to address the challenges faced by Defence.<\/p>\n

Commodore Marcel Rosenberg highlighted three pilots currently active in the HMNB Portsmouth Capability Accelerator\u2019s first hundred days that are designed to \u201ccut a path through the jungle of process\u201d. The first pilot relates to a project involving the service\u2019s \u201cNavy PODS (Persistent Operational Deployment System)\u201d. These \u201cPODS\u201d are essentially shipping containers designed to house vital interchangeable modules that can quickly be fitted to warships when needed.[7]<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/a>Exterior and interior views of a Royal Navy Persistent Operational Deployment System (PODS) fitted with medical equipment, March 2024.<\/p>\n

The second Portsmouth Capability Accelerator pilot relates to small unmanned surface vessels (USVs) currently being trialled with the Royal Navy\u2019s CSG with the aim to bring their use to scale. The final project relates to an AI learning tool related to \u201cSAGA\u201d (Scenario Automated Generation using AI)[8] that is designed to identify potential solutions to operational problems and is already deployed at sea. The aim now is to bring this AI tool to scale through the Portsmouth Accelerator.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian Wartime Initiatives: Digital Marketplaces for Agile Acquisition<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it was clear at this year\u2019s DSEI UK that it is in Ukraine where the necessity of fending off Russian aggression has become the mother of all inventions when it comes to agile and rapid procurement.<\/p>\n

On the third day of the expo on September 11, Arsen Zhumadilov, Director of the Defense Procurement Agency of Ukraine within the Ministry of Defence, explained how Kyiv\u2019s agency has split its procurement system concerning direct commercial sales and tenders with international defense companies into two distinct streams.<\/p>\n

The first more conventional stream requires long-term planning and is reserved for long-term contracts signed by the Defense Procurement Agency and tailored for traditional armaments, ammunition, tanks and so on. Meanwhile, the second more rapid and agile procurement stream is reserved for those \u201cgame-changing\u201d products that have short innovation cycles that render traditional long-term contracts and centralized stockpiling approaches difficult.<\/p>\n

\"Arsen<\/a>Arsen Zhumadilov, Director of the Defense Procurement Agency of Ukraine addressing DSEI UK, September 11, 2025.<\/p>\n

Zhumadilov explained how, in the second stream many capabilities, particularly unmanned vehicles, electronic warfare devices and autonomous systems, have innovation cycles that are too short for long-term procurement cycles used in the first traditional stream. Ukrainian troops on the battlefield need to make sure that they have ready access to the most cutting-edge products among these in order to stay ahead of the Russian adversary.<\/p>\n

The fast-tracked procurement stream consists of two digital platforms, \u201cDOT-Chain Defence\u201d and \u201cBrave1\u201d.[9] These are \u201cAmazon-like\u201d consumer-driven competitive online marketplaces in which Ukrainian military end-users, including brigades, battalions and companies, act directly as consumers and defense suppliers as their sellers. Consumers on the frontline choose directly the products they need and then the Defense Procurement Agency does the bureaucracy and contracting. This has reduced lead times to 2 weeks on average and in exceptional cases it took only 5 days for a product to be ordered and delivered to the frontline.<\/p>\n

In total, 500 million hryvnias (approx. 12.2 million USD)-worth of equipment has been supplied through DOT-Chain Defence. Meanwhile, a total of 95 Ukrainian units have ordered \u201cmore than 30,000 FPV drones, strike drones and other equipment worth 2 billion hryvnias [approx. 48.8 million USD] through the Brave1 Market\u201d.[10]<\/p>\n

\"Logos<\/a>Logos for Ukraine\u2019s DOT-Chain Defence (left) and Brave1 (right)<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Defense Procurement Director Zhumadilov stressed that the digital marketplaces are reserved for products with a competitive market, thus ruling out those capabilities that have a more fixed number of suppliers, such as air defense, and those where consumer-choice is not so relevant, such as ammunition.<\/p>\n

Instead, market focus is on those products that have a competitive supply and for which there is a well-informed consumer choice on the demand side among Ukraine\u2019s units. In addition to unmanned vehicles and electronic warfare devices, Zhumadilov noted that Ukraine\u2019s digital marketplaces might soon be expanded to include warheads for drones and interceptor drones on the condition that market structures for such products are in place.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>Image of the \u201cAmazon-like\u201d Brave1 digital marketplace.<\/p>\n

Zhumadilov explained that there is a low barrier to entry for firms to get products on to the Ukrainian online marketplace. To be eligible for sale, products need to be codified by the Ukrainian MOD to make sure they work well. Meanwhile the Procurement Agency is responsible for checking the legal entity selling the product, including its financial stability and whether it is associated with a country under international sanctions, such as Russia, North Korea, Iran and Belarus.<\/p>\n

Zhumadilov stressed that this is not a high threshold for companies to meet and can be done in as little as 2 to 3 weeks. However, although this barrier to entry is quite low, he acknowledged that receiving actual orders from the frontline brigades is more difficult due to their demanding requirements regarding service levels from a given company and its products. Of around 159 products on the marketplace, only about one third receive some orders. In turn, the top five producers and devices on the platform make up a large chunk of all orders made.<\/p>\n

Ukraine is now sharing this digital marketplace approach with like-minded countries so they can learn from this approach. To this end, the U.S. Army is one such partner that has recently committed to opening up its own internal \u201cAmazon-like\u201d marketplace for UAS.[11]<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it is also important to note here that Brave1 is not just an online marketplace. As a defence cluster, it includes universities in order to enable them to contribute to the science of defense solutions, to facilitate consultations with academic experts for developers, and to arrange job and skills opportunities for students.[12] Brave1 also provides grant and investment support, and acts as a \u201csoft-landing\u201d for overseas partners by guiding them through the Ukrainian MOD codification process and to facilitate testing in the country.[13]<\/p>\n

A Private Sector-led Initiative: \u201cDefence as a Service\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another novel approach to procurement discussed at DSEI UK 2025 was \u201cDefence as a Service\u201d (DaaS),[14] which essentially conceptualizes acquisition as a subscription service akin to the cloud-based \u201cSoftware as a Service (SaaS)\u201d used in the IT sector in which customers pay for access to an online service rather than owning a copy of it outright.<\/p>\n

At the London expo, this service-driven approach to defense was advocated by Andy Baynes, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder of Tiberius Aerospace Inc.; a defense startup that has adopted a distributed model with engineering hubs located in the UK, U.S. and Australia and manufacturer of the \u201cSCEPTRE\u201d guided ramjet liquid fuelled munition known for its economical deep-strike capabilities.<\/p>\n

Tiberius Aerospace explains on its website that DaaS aims to separate \u201cR&D from manufacturing, enabling rapid iteration, sovereign scalability, and continuous innovation on a global scale.\u201d[15] The approach aims to overcome defense\u2019s reliance on \u201cslow, rigid, and expensive\u201d OEM systems offered by prime contractors in favor of an \u201cagile methodologies and platform-agonistic design\u201d that allows for \u201cthird-party manufacturing, modular upgrades, and real-time optimization.\u201d[16]<\/p>\n

Tiberius\u2019 DaaS business model consists of the following philosophies and approaches:<\/p>\n