Publications /
Policy Paper

Back
Download PDF
Defence & Security Acquisition – a Guide to a Complex System
Authors
John Louth
Trevor Taylor
August 22, 2017
Related topics: 
Security & Defense

This paper reports on the vital relationship between government and defence industries, and how the core features necessary for defence and security capabilities can be delivered in the national interest. The paper will examine how a defence acquisition process can be set up so as to enable defence businesses to thrive within and beyond national borders, and to ensure that they support the forward plans of government, the military and security services.

Taking a seven stage approach, this paper will define the whole of the defence acquisition process. It will start by focusing on the importance of defence capability requirements, as framed through a conventional Western taxonomy. It will then address the approvals process by decision makers at Ministry and governmental level, through which verification is obtained that the requirements meet defence policy, are feasible and affordable. The paper will then look at how the approvals process leadings to the start of the procurement stage, and after this how the support needs will be address. Approaching the end, the paper will then address the disposal requirements. Finally, it will study how all these tasks should be executed in an integrated and coherent fashion by the defence community, and the international dimension to many projects involving other partner governments.

In summary, the paper will introduce the reader to acquisition and through-life capability management in a systemic and comprehensive manner, but it should not be taken as an exhaustive map of the field. The topics examined are often contentious and there are many ways that states generate force capabilities; still, this paper offers a sensible and well-tested approach to defence acquisition, formed through Western experience.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Download PDF
    The Fractured Ocean: Current Challenges to Maritime Policy in the Wider Atlantic
    Authors
    John B. Richardson
    Armando Marques Guedes
    Xavier de la Gorce
    Anne-François de Saint Salvy
    Paul Holthus
    November 29, 2012
    This paper examines the challenges posed by human activity on the Atlantic Ocean itself, and around its coasts, looking at it not so much as a vast expanse separating the Americas from Africa and Europe but rather as a shared resource and an important connector. All littoral states face a common challenge in maintaining its value as a foundation for sustained “blue growth” in the years to come. In Chapter 1, Armando Marques Guedes traces the evolution of the economic activities that ...
  • Download PDF
    U.S-Algerian Security Cooperation and Regional Counterterrorism
    Authors
    Alexis Arieff
    July 1, 2011
    This paper explores the recent evolution of security cooperation between the United States and Algeria, which have forged a strong partnership on counterterrorism despite lingering mutual distrust. The United States has strengthened its defense outreach to Algeria over the past decade, largely based on concerns over transnational terrorism, and Algeria has sought to benefit from this outreach as it positions itself as a vital player on regional issues following years of civil confli ...
  • Download PDF
    Trafficking in the Sahel-Saharan zone: features and stakes
    Authors
    Jean-Luc Peduzzi
    February 20, 2010
    On November 5th 2009, a cocaine-loaded Boeing 727 aircraft arriving from Venezuela was discovered torched and emptied on a makeshift airstrip in the Malian desert (Gao region). The sahel-saharan area is clearly a contact zone between very distant worlds. ...

  • From

    09
    4:00 pm March 2022

    Presentation: The Global Terrorism Index (GTI)

    The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) is an annual report produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP). Now on its 9th edition, the GTI provides a comprehensive summary of the key global trends and patterns in terrorism. It analyses a number of vital aspects of terrorism such as the socio-economic conditions under which it occurs, how terrorism changes over time, the geopolitical drivers and ideological aims of terrorist groups and the strategies used by terrorists. In the previous edition, the GTI 2020 reported a decrease in deaths from terrorism for a fifth consecutive year. The drop of deaths by 15.5% was due to a reduction on the impact of terrorism in 103 countries. The decrease in deaths from terrorism was perceived in the MENA region, Russia, Eurasia, South Ame ...

  • From

    16
    5:30 pm February 2022

    SECURITY AND GOVERNENCE IN AFRICA: SAHEL AND LIBYA

    Rida Lyammouri, Senior Fellow at Policy Center for the New South, will be speaking at the webinar “security and governence in africa: sahel and libya” organized by frica Study Group in partnership with The Middle East Institute. The security dynamics of the Maghreb and the Sahel are intertwined and the consequences of the Libyan conflict on the Sahel have been serious. Since its beginning in 2011, this conflict has triggered global concern about the economic, security, and geostrategic impacts on the Sahel. Current threats are posed by the illicit transfer, destabilizing accumulation, and misuse of arms, as well as the flow of armed groups and mercenaries. Despite considerable international efforts, especially by African countries, the Sahel is still experiencing one of the ...