Five Months After Launch, UK Defence Innovation is Still Missing in Action
In a guest post, an anonymous senior stakeholder in the defence innovation sector calls for the British Government to stop prevaricating and to launch UK Defence Innovation with urgency
On 1 July 2025, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) launched UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), backed by a £400 million ring-fenced budget and framed it as the start of a “new era for defence innovation.” Ministers promised a “single, coherent operating model” for defence innovation, uniting previously separate entities and giving the UK Armed Forces faster access to commercially-derived technology. They also stated that UKDI would “streamline delivery of innovative technology” to UK Warfighters. Nearly five months later, we cannot find a dedicated UKDI website, social media presence, or front door for industry to engage with defence.
We have not seen a single challenge call or problem statement issued under the UKDI brand. And industry is being told to engage with legacy MOD innovation organisations, most of which are meant to have been wound up, and some of which are about to be shuttered.
UKDI was meant to consolidate legacy defence innovation bodies, such as the UK Defence Innovation Unit (DIU), Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) Future Capability Innovation (FCI), Command Innovation Hubs, and the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) “into a single unified organisation.” The concept was simple and compelling. That is, a single front door for the commercial innovators to answer problem-led challenge calls, leading to rapid prototyping and procurement. The Defence Industrial Strategy, published last month, states that UKDI is to “accelerate the delivery of cutting-edge innovative capabilities” at wartime pace, harnessing commercial and dual-use technologies. This framing aligns with the U.S. Defense Innovation model, a point Luke Pollard MP, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, underscored on 27 October. This was the vision of UKDI, and five months later, it remains unfulfilled. This is not the wartime pace we need in the face of real threats. Russia is now innovating fast based on lessons from responding to Ukraine’s defence innovation.
We simply do not have time for this peacetime institutional lethargy.
The problem is straightforward: where is UKDI? There is currently no centre of gravity for defence technology innovation within the British Government. UKDI exists in a handful of press releases, but not in the real world. Industry has no way of knowing which problems the MOD needs solved or what direction to steer investment and development. In the absence of a functioning UKDI, the entire ecosystem defaults back to the old ways of doing business, the very ways that UKDI is intended to replace.
The UK defence industry, defence tech sector, and investors must demand better from their government. The 2025 Strategic Defence Review makes “wartime pace” non-negotiable and yet this urgency is nowhere to be seen Russia’s war against Ukraine has shown that modern conflict rewards speed of adoption, not grant-based tinkering or open calls that push unsolicited capabilities onto defence. Capability gaps widen when innovation cannot transition. Companies lose momentum. Investors lose confidence. And every month without a functioning UKDI further entrenches a model that does not deliver adoption or scale.
UKDI must therefore stand up a public front door immediately. This involves taking risks and moving fast, and showing leadership. First, a new UKDI immediately needs a website, a social media presence, and a basic explanation of its structure and status. Next, UKDI must publish problem-led challenges with an operational user attached and a clear procurement pathway. Industry needs to know how a solution will move from prototype to procurement and if it genuinely solves a defence problem. All of this must be done through UKDI’s own engagements, not through the outdated mechanisms of the previous system. The old pathways cannot remain the de facto entry point for industry. UKDI must match ministerial intent with visible execution. As long as legacy pathways remain the only visible route, UKDI cannot fulfil its mandate.
Ministers were right to demand a unified innovation system for UK defence and industry. The vision is sound. But execution is missing. Industry needs clarity, not silence. UKDI must prove it exists, and it must do so now.