RUSI Defence Systems

contention@rusi.org - Equipment Procurement: Smart or Dumb?

The UK MoD has now had several years' experience in procurement in a new commercial environment. Has the experience drawn instructive lessons?

A QinetiQ Perspective on Smart Acquisition

Mike Goodfellowlooks at the UK MoD’s move to capability-based acquisition and the further developments required, not least at the very beginning of the procurement cycle.

REVIEW: Ministry of Defence: Assessing and Reporting Military Readiness

The Deepwater Programme and the Role of Commercial Technology

Robbin Laird explores the role of commercial technology and the use of nonspecialist defence providers in the acquisition of defence equipment, and identifies key lessons from the US Coast Guard’s Deepwater programme.

Deep Target Attack

Hjalmar Staaf explains the system-of-systems concept of the Archer artillery system, in which he emphasises that supporting systems must be designed and adapted simultaneously with the development process of a new system.

The A400M Role in Strategic Operations

Roger Green examines the role of the A400M as an integral element of the UK’s logistic bridge and believes it has the potential to be a very versatile replacement for the aging C–130Ks.

The Acquisition of New Military Capability: Moving Forward

This article, by the two co-chairs of the MoD's Equipment Capability Group, examines the background and outlines the work that has emerged from the Shrivenham Workshop in December 2004.

Exploiting Unmanned Systems

Dewar Donnithorne-Tait looks at the technical, regulatory, operational and business challenges in developing unmanned systems, and outlines an agenda for progress.

Managing Complexity: A Team Sport

Joseph Yakovac examines the complexity of acquisition today, when major defence systems are no longer ‘stovepipe’ equipments, but an integral part of the much wider system of systems of the future battlespace.

J-UCAS: Inventing a Weapon System for the Information Age

Michael Francis and Michael Hirschberg look at the progress and promise of the world’s most advanced unmanned aircraft that is expected to transform the battlespace of the 21st century.

contention@rusi.org - The Debate: Spears and Ploughshares

Saving Time and Cost: A Comparisson between the Defence and Civil Aerospace Sectors

The research objective of the Long-Term In Service Support (LOTISS) team is to improve the efficiency of inter-firm relations by comparing four principal facets of typical defence and civil aerospace transactions.

EDITORIAL NOTES

In this issue...

Complex Management Simplified: Lessons Learned from the DFTS Private Finance Initiative Programme

John Seale discusses the lessons learned during the first seven years of the Defence Fixed Telecommunications Service (DFTS) at BT.

Astute, Trident and SSGN: Land Attack for the Royal Navy Submarine Service

Lee Willett examines the UK and US options for future ground attack from submarines in the future and considers the challenges for the UK submarine flotilla.