Business Reporter

Cuts in defence spending over the next four years have prompted the Ministry of Defence and industry to make some tough decisions to help sustain the reductions The Government announced last October that it was setting out a “hard-headed reappraisal of Britain’s foreign policy and security objectives”, which translated into a cut in defence spending [...]

Harnessing the innovation in SMEs is the key to tackling cyber-crime and halting the security breaches that currently cost the UK economy £27 billion a year At times, it can seem as though cyber-crime is endemic. However, the UK is fortunate to have a host of small security vendors that are developing innovative solutions against [...]

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the lifeblood of the UK’s defence industry and have a big role to play with our armed forces, says communications manufacturer Vitavox Britain has a priceless resource in the thousands of small and medium-sized companies that supply specialist equipment to our armed forces, but they are in danger of being [...]

An innovative form of training using a simulated network environment is helping the RAF and others to stop cyber threats in their tracks A new form of cyber security training which uses a simulated ‘real life’ network environment is helping the RAF and other large organisations to thwart the threat of cyber attacks. Cyber Defence [...]

The Gray report highlighted the urgent need for a more robust approach to procurement to claw back a £38 billion overspend. Defence minister Peter Luff talks exclusively to Business Reporter about the challenge In the two years since Bernard Gray delivered his damning verdict on the state of defence acquisition in the UK, Whitehall has [...]

Will virtual warfare be more of a threat to our national security than the real thing? Adam Baddeley looks at the evidence While spending on defence has been reduced, governments are investing in measures to combat potential cyber enemies. They fear that attacks in cyberspace could pose more of a risk than actual warfare. The [...]

Austerity has led to unprecedented levels of co-operation between the UK and France to improve their collective defence capability As a young battalion commander in Flanders in 1916, Winston Churchill donned a French soldier’s Poilu helmet as a potent symbol of co-operation between Britain and France. Fast forward to June 1940 when Churchill, by then [...]

Future communicators for soldiers may take several features from civilian smartphones Today’s soldier wants to communicate on the battlefield in the same way that he communicates at home – using a pocket gizmo to talk, text, swap pictures and get information. Of course, a military communicator will be very different to the cell phones we [...]

The private sector has the expertise to be on the front line when it comes to defence acquisition, says QinetiQ To describe defence acquisition as complex is rather like saying open heart surgery can be a bit tricky. Defence systems often involve leading-edge technology, sometimes combined into integrated systems never previously attempted. There may be [...]

Civilian companies can supply increased efficiency and reduced costs to the under-fire MoD, says distribution specialist Multipart Nobody gets the Victoria Cross for supplying vehicle spare parts to the front line – but when the supply chain goes wrong, they certainly can get pilloried. The House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee recently issued a highly [...]