ABSTRACT
The Ministry of Defence is British industry's largest single customer. Its procurement agency (Defence Equipment and Support: DE&S) buys a variety of equipment, ranging from such simple items as batteries, food and tyres to complex products such as combat aircraft, missiles, aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines and tanks. There is also spending on R&D for new equipment projects together with expenditure on equipment support. In 2009, MOD spent about £6 billion on equipment and a further £5 billion on supporting it when in service. Typically, equipment acquisition accounts for about one-third of whole life costs (Cmnd 7796, 2010). The UK aerospace industry was a major recipient of MOD spending, together with the UK shipbuilding and electronics sectors. MOD also purchases a range of non-equipment items from UK industry including construction, financial and other services (e.g. business activities; education; health: DASA, 2009). Total spending by MOD on all acquisitions was £20 billion in 2009. MOD contracted with some 29,000 suppliers, but about 40 per cent of its acquisition spending was with only ten companies (Cmnd 7796, 2010, p. 17).
