The first flight of the UK’s E-7 Wedgetail for the Royal Air Force (RAF) conducted in September 2024 from Birmingham Airport | File Photo: Boeing
The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) is set to conduct a large-scale exercise with leading defence companies to assess how supply chains would perform during sustained conflict conditions. The planned wargame will bring together Boeing, KNDS, MBDA, Rheinmetall, and Tekever alongside senior MOD officials.
The exercise will focus on a scenario involving a sustained surge in demand for military equipment over an extended period. Participants are expected to examine potential constraints in production and delivery systems, as well as measures that could be taken by both government and industry to reduce risks and maintain supply continuity.
According to the MOD, findings from the exercise will inform defence policy and readiness planning. The initiative is linked to broader efforts under the Strategic Defence Review and the Defence Industrial Strategy, both of which emphasise the need for resilient and responsive supply chains capable of supporting military operations over time.
Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, Luke Pollard, said, “Defence needs to be able to move fast to respond to an increasingly unpredictable and dangerous world. This means not just having the right capabilities, but ensuring our supply chains are resilient, responsive and able to sustain operations over time. Activities like this wargame are essential to strengthening that readiness.”
The planned exercise builds on a previous supply chain wargame held in December 2024, which tested ammunition and equipment availability under wartime conditions. Lessons from that earlier exercise are expected to contribute to ongoing policy and legislative development aimed at improving defence preparedness.
The Defence Industrial Strategy outlines measures to strengthen domestic supply chains in critical sectors, diversify the supplier base, and expand opportunities for smaller companies to contribute to defence procurement. These steps are intended to ensure that industrial capacity can be scaled up in response to operational demands.
National Armaments Director, Rupert Pearce, said, “MOD is prioritising more meaningful collaboration with companies of all sizes to meet the challenge of supporting our Armed Forces with the kit and equipment they need. 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.”
The exercise is supported by a planned increase in UK defence spending, which is set to reach 2.6% of GDP from 2027.
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