State of Defence 2026

Procurement speed, supply chain resilience, technology investment, talent competition, and demand signals are often seen as challenges consistently encountered throughout defence. These pressures are not solely the responsibility of the Armed Forces, commercial industry or those seeking to invest in the sector; they all require collaboration, which is enabled through shared goals and dialogue.

Facilitating this continued conversation, we are bringing together representatives from each of these stakeholder groups, focused on discussing how they see the current landscape and what they are doing to alleviate current pressures. Within the narrative of shared responsibility, this event will look ahead at how the sector can improve and what requires greater focus to ensure that war fighters are best enabled to succeed. 

• The establishment of the National Armament Directors Group and what this means in practice
• The Ministry of Defence’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) action plan
• Collectively overcoming challenges: procurement speed, supply chain resilience, technology investment, talent competition, and demand signals.
• The role of industry and shaping this to effectively support future requirements and challenges