The importance of sovereign defence capability in an uncertain world

John Howie MBE | 31st March 2026 | Comment

As uncertainty spreads across the continent, now more than ever the UK should learn the value of sovereign defence capability, says John Howie MBE

Following the end of the Cold War, the UK like so many of our allies, not only accepted what we now refer to as the “peace dividend” but also continued a journey to modernise our defence procurement system. Part of the reform agenda was to move away from the dominance of single-source or non-competed contracts which made up over 70% of all MOD procurement (by volume) in 2009/10 through an increasing focus on the use of competition as the principal method of determining value-for-money.

By 2021/22, competition was the basis of awarding over 50% of all MOD contracts placed, a significant increase. With that policy of driving towards competition came a willingness to open up the UK defence market to international competitors without constraint, a policy that has never really been adopted by any of our allies or competitors. Whilst this, in theory, brought the benefits of gaining access to the best available warfighting capability and allowed the UK to benefit from larger non-UK programmes, it came at a price that was unexpected at the time. Over time, a number of critical UK defence capabilities have been delivered by multinational companies who are headquartered outside the UK.

That brings us back to the present, and the changing face of modern warfare, well evidenced in the war in Ukraine. Not only has that conflict changed the way we see warfare thanks to Ukraine’s incredibly …

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