Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 24 on page 63 of his Department's Defence Investment Plan, published 30 June 2026 on changes to procurement rules, what progress he has made on increasing the speed of defence procurement.

On 1 April 2026, the NAD Group launched a new segmented approach to procurement, which tailors acquisition routes to the type of capability, supplier and levels of risk. Procurement segmentation is designed to enable programmes to get to contract faster and has established three segments for Equipment acquisitions. We have published Acquisition Guides for all three segments, so MOD practitioners can apply best practice to drive pace in our acquisitions. These are supported by ‘test and learn’ demonstrators on a variety of Defence programmes. These segments are:

1. Major platforms (such as tanks, frigates and aircraft) with a target to go from an average of six to two years to first contract;
2. Pace setting modular upgrades (such as communications, sensors and weapons upgrades) with a target to go from an average of three to one year to first contract; and
3. Rapid commercial exploitation (such as uncrewed systems) with a target of three-month cycles.