“We believe that the absence of a defence industrial strategy, which supports appropriate national sovereignty, puts the UK at a disadvantage against competitor countries,” the report says.
An MoD spokesperson responded that the department’s newly-published ten-year Equipment Plan will help defence businesses by providing “information for industry about our priorities, helping them to invest in the future capabilities our troops need”.
The MoD permanent secretary’s annual objectives, published in December, reveal that he’s tasked with ensuring “that the MoD promotes defence exports consistent with export control criteria.”
See feature on permanent secretaries’ objectives