Ministry of Defence opens purse strings for tech-centric programmes as Ukraine sharpens minds
The UK intends to “adopt a collaborative approach with the Netherlands” on some of the acquisitions with an eye to NATO interoperability.
The war in Ukraine appears to have put a rocket behind Ministry of Defence’s procurement, with MOD this week announcing plans to take forward its £400 million “Project SERPENS” and and £148 million “Project POYNTING” programmes – respectively designed to overhaul weapons detection and boost “Cyber Electromagnetic” capabilities.
Both projects are heavily technology-dependent, and emphasise the extent to which evolving hardware and software capabilities, allied to lessons from the gruelling experiences being suffered by soldiers in Ukraine (where very 2023 makeshift drone capabilities and satellite communications support trench warfare reminiscent of experiences a decade earlier) are transforming how military strategists are thinking.
