On July 1st, the Ministry of Defence announced 2 milestones in the reforms started by the Strategic Defence Review, signalling the foundation of the UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) body and the formal re-naming of UK Strategic Command as the Cyber & Specialist Operations Command (CSOC).

UKDI is the new, unified body which will “harness and exploit” technology for the Armed Forces, striving to drive early adoption of innovative solutions. The SDR has directed the allocation of a ringfenced annual budget of £400 million to UKDI to accelerate the technological evolution of the Forces through rapid and iterative adoption of new solutions put forward by industry.

UKDI will bring together a number of organizations that already exists: the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), Defence Innovation Unit (DIU), the Command Innovation Hubs belonging to the individual Forces Commands and the Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S)’s Futures Lab. The Futures Lab, in particular, is a key provider of engineering concepts and solutions to Defence, enabled by external skills and resources guaranteed by industry through the Aurora Engineering Partnership, a teaming arrangement between QinetiQ, AtkinsRéalis and BMT.

The UKDI will undergo a transition and implementation period that will develop over the next 12 months with the expectation that the new body will be fully operational by July 2026. It is intended that UKDI will not be confined to the realm of Defence proper but will strengthen whole-of-government coordination on innovation by working closely with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

In the new MOD organisation centered on 4 super budget-holding commands, the UKDI will sit within the National Armaments Director’s Group.

As part of UKDI’s launch, two initiatives have been established: a Rapid Innovation Team (RIT) will closely interface with industry to exploit commercially available dual-use technology to “address the most urgent operational problems at wartime pace”.

Regional Engagement Teams across the UK will also be established to identify and support dual-use innovation from Small and Medium Enterprises and Academic spin-outs, delivering business development support.

As for the UK Strategic Command, already ex Joint Forces Command, yet another name change has been decided, to put further emphasis on the growing importance of Cyber. The Cyber & Specialist Operations Command (CSOC), which will continue to be led by General Sir Jim Hockenhull, now known as Commander CSOC, will sit under the newly formed Military Strategic Headquarters (MSHQ), the super budget-holding body commanded directly by the Chief of the Defence Staff.

The overall responsibilities of CSOC remain the same: the Command will continue to look after joint, specialist capabilities critical to operational success, ranging from Intelligence, Special Forces, through to deployed medical capabilities and Command and Control as well as the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ).

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