Strengthening defence sector supply chains through innovation

Growing international instability and especially, once again, the war in Ukraine have highlighted the critical importance of production capacity and supply chain resilience. Defence manufacturers are increasingly turning to innovative manufacturing methods to enable mass production domestically. Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce are just a couple of the players exploring additive-layer manufacturing. Rolls-Royce is doing so as part of its Orpheus rapid-development demonstrator-engine effort, which aims to support the UK’s Future Combat Air System Technology Initiative.

Defence contractors are also facing mounting pressure to source technology from suppliers that are geopolitically aligned with their home nations. For example, The Defense Innovation Unit in the US has launched the Blue Manufacturing Marketplace to connect technology firms with vetted advanced manufacturing companies. Competition over access to critical technologies – semiconductors, quantum computing and AI data centres – is further driving the development of localised or regional technology standards and supply chains.

Many industry leaders are taking a proactive approach by creating agile, disruption-responsive supply chains with enhanced visibility extending down to tier four suppliers, utilising real-time operational data. Many are deploying digital twins – digital models of production lines, logistics networks and weapon systems – that integrate live data and enable simulation of potential problems. All of this is designed to achieve end-to-end supply chain visibility and control, while using the most advanced technologies to do so.

This brief overview forms part of our contribution to the publication of ‘Lexology Panoramic: Defence & Security Procurement’. You can access more on our Defence and Security Procurement Hub.

Our international Defence & Security team have written the global overview, the Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and UK chapters, and Mark Leach and Jono Ellis are contributing editors for the publication. All content on the hub is reproduced with permission from Law Business Research Ltd and was first published in Lexology Panoramic. For further information please visit: https://www.lexology.com/panoramic