It's here! Defence Secretary launches £800m MoD tech creche

So this dragonflyesque drone for peeping around corners and over walls - what's wrong with a good old fashioned periscope/shaving mirror on a stick?

I can tell you that the next time I'm in a life threatening situation and need to figure out where the enemy are, I will not be whipping out a little drone... It seems somewhat pointless!

odds against

Until the revolving door where military procurement involved folk retire and walk straight into a well paid post at a company that supplies the military, then it will be hard for any new entrants to get any juicy sized contracts (e.g. see recent(ish) Private Eye, 2 Sept, Issue 1426 "Public servants, private paydays" article ).

.. as the motorsport industry person essentially pointed out (albeit not in as many words), all too often rather cozy & corrupt for high monetary value deals

MoD fails to elicit Innovative Proposals

So what is stifling innovation in the defence manufacturing sector? Why is it in such a bad place that MoD has had to intervene to revive this habit?

Whereas it has come to be seen as an utter failure, a commendable aim of the then much heralded Smart Acquisition policy introduced by the last Labour Government was to create an environment within which those motivated by the prospect of making money are moved to voluntarily come up with, and put forward Innovative Proposals, within the context of a winner-takes-all competition.

It was envisaged that such an approach would exploit the fertile innovative streak and problem-solving capability in the Private Sector (erased in the Public Sector due to incessant conditioning of the mind from an early age) to elicit alternative, much more efficient and technologically new ways of acquiring equipment for the Armed Forces that is fit for purpose, adequately sustained in-service and constitutes value for money through-life.

The sad reality is that such high aspirations have not been realised at all. The two main reasons why there has been pitifully little, in the way of Innovative Proposals are:

(a) Firstly, it is the narrow-minded, ‘tick box’ mentality of individual defence procurement officials and their knee-jerk reaction of adhering rigidly to tried-and-failed practices of the past that dissuades Defence Contractors from coming-up with and putting forward new, innovative ways of satisfying the totality of the Requirement – notwithstanding the clear invitation in the ITT. Indeed, far from compiling Innovative Proposals, Contractors are doing the exact opposite! They are pre-occupied with dumbing down the contents of their Management Plans to a level commensurate with procurement officials’ (and military top brasses’) intellect – to cut the risk of their submissions being side-lined for being labelled as ‘above the heads’ of those assessing them.

(b) Secondly, it is the near certainty that their innovative ideas and intellectual property (revealed in Management Plans) will end up in the hands of their Competitors, via the route of the ‘revolving door’ that Contractors fear most. Transfer of proprietary information in this way continues to occur because, the only way procurement officials can embark upon a second career with Defence Contractors is by making them an offer they cannot refuse.

Indeed, the career prospects of people in the pay of the State are inextricably linked to those with the means to produce weapons systems, facilitated by the ‘revolving door’ and intensive lobbying behind the scenes where it matters most, in the corridors of power.

At a time when the headcount at MoD’s defence equipment acquisition organisation at Abbey Wood, Bristol is being forcibly slashed as part of a deal with the Treasury, there exists an extremely high risk that departing procurement officials, including those who have not previously taken part in the assessment of ITT responses, will be persuaded to pocket corresponding memory sticks (or CDs) and offer them in return for employment, to competitors of owners of these same CDs – thereby transferring innovative design solutions and Intellectual Property Rights which can be used by unscrupulous recipients, to grab a larger share of the defence market.

Such behaviour only reinforces the view that defence procurement officials have nothing to offer potential employers in the Private Sector, except someone else’s property! And when these people arrive on Contractors’ premises, they promptly become a burden on fellow co-workers and the payroll because they do not have the necessary skills (due to being selected for reasons other than merit) as Task Performers to add value to the business, only costs.

What’s more, because many Defence Contractors do not have a ‘Code on Ethical Behaviour in Business’ in place, they will not only happily accept such proprietary information without any qualms, but also encourage its unauthorised removal from MoD Abbey Wood – yet they would not want their own CDs to fall into the hands of their Competitors.

Such is their twisted sense of morality!

@JagPatel3 on twitter

" bumping into the minister for defence procurement, Harriett Baldwin MP, in the aforementioned unisex toilets takes the “removing barriers” part a step too far."

She's not that bad looking

Have been involved in several MOD sponsored research projects that were supposed to be for looking into the potential of exploiting innovations from small companies - disruptive technologies as they call them.

We found a little start-up trying to raise money for a 'cheap' VR system via Kickstarter - we asked for a few hundred pounds to buy one to start doing research on its potential for the MOD.

We were told 'no, the MOD doesn't do that kind of thing.'

You may have heard of the device, it was the Oculus Rift...

Now the MOD is all over VR like a rash, because it can't afford to fly its aircraft or put its ships to sea, or has enough 'spare' kit to train its service and maintenance crews with... but it's playing catch up like always.

Anonymous because I'm still trying to chip away at this attitude from the inside.

"Pen for scale"

Holy shit, that's the biggest pen Ive ever seen!

If only there was some other way to show scale... Perhaps a straight flat pen with units of measurement drawn on it....