Image: UK MoD © Crown copyright 2023
The UK Ministry of Defence has launched a major wargame exercise with five leading defence contractors to stress-test whether British supply chains could sustain a large-scale, prolonged conflict, with results set to directly shape defence policy.
Boeing, KNDS, MBDA, Rheinmetall and drone manufacturer Tekever joined senior MoD officials this week for the exercise. Participants worked through scenarios demanding a rapid and sustained surge in the supply of critical military equipment, probing where bottlenecks could emerge and how government and industry might respond.
Testing the Limits
The exercise simulates the kind of sustained operational pressure that defence planners increasingly consider a realistic threat. Participants examined potential constraints across supply networks and evaluated the practical steps available to reduce risk.
Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard MP said the exercise reflected a broader shift in how the UK approaches preparedness. “Defence needs to be able to move fast to respond to an increasingly unpredictable and dangerous world,” he said. “This means not just having the right capabilities, but ensuring our supply chains are resilient, responsive and able to sustain operations over time.”
The wargame builds on a predecessor exercise held in December 2024, which stress-tested ammunition and equipment supplies in a wartime scenario. Findings from both exercises feed into ongoing policy development, including work underpinning the Strategic Defence Review and the Defence Industrial Strategy.
Policy and Investment Backing
The Defence Industrial Strategy sets out the government’s ambition to build a more resilient domestic supply base. It prioritises strengthening home-grown capacity in critical sectors, broadening the supplier base and opening greater opportunities for smaller and innovative firms to contribute to equipping the armed forces.
National Armaments Director Rupert Pearce said collaboration across company sizes was now a central MoD priority. “Supply chain wargaming plays a critical role by bringing MoD and industry together to test assumptions, identify opportunities to improve readiness and ensure that our plans can be delivered in practice,” he said.
The Strategic Defence Review reinforced the UK’s commitment to building sovereign industrial capability at pace. The wargame forms part of that commitment, ensuring that surge plans can be tested in a structured environment before they are ever needed in the field.
Spending at a Post-Cold War High
The exercises take place against a backdrop of record defence investment. The UK government has committed £270 billion to defence over this parliament, with spending set to reach 2.6 percent of GDP from 2027, the largest sustained increase since the end of the Cold War. Officials say that investment is not only strengthening supply chain resilience but also creating skilled employment and positioning defence as a driver of economic growth.
The MoD has not disclosed a timeline for publishing findings from this week’s exercise, but officials confirmed results will inform both legislative and policy work already underway.
Source: UK MoD
