UK sees India as a strategic partner
The UK Defence Solutions Centre (UKDSC), established as part of the UK Defence Growth Partnership (DGP) in 2015, is keen to explore Indian industrial and government perspectives on longer-term Defence technology and capability requirements.
Jointly funded by UK Government and Industry, UKDSC works closely with the Department for International Trade’s Defence & Security Organisation (DIT-DSO), UK MOD and Business, Energy and Industrial Strataegy (BEIS) Departments along with British Industry and Academia.
The UKDSC’s Chief Executive, Mark Barclay, spoke with fiinews.com at Aero India which was held in Bengaluru 20-24 Feb 2019.
He said: “We are keen to explore Indian industrial and government perspectives on longer term Defence technology and capability requirements”
The Centre is working, through the UK High Commission in New Delhi, and engaging with representatives from the Indian Defence industry and broader Indian Defence community.
India is an internationally important strategic partner for the UK, with a long history of trade and military interaction. This plays well into a key tenet of the UKDSC which is built upon developing enduring international relationships.
Barclay said: “We’ve been working collaboratively with our various Indian counterparts for the past few years now and looking at the potential of early capability development.”
When asked how he saw partnering opportunities between UK and India, he elaborated: “The Defence market is becoming ever more competitive whilst technology and capability needs are also accelerating. By potentially developing common roadmaps for both countries there is significant scope to share key developments, optimise investment and ultimately deliver end-user capability in shorter time.”
The CEO was keen to point out that the UKDSC works in the pre-competitive space, precluding it from engaging in current commercial or sales campaigns, which is where his colleagues from DIT-DSO and Industry operate.
The Centre works on future concepts and capabilities, ahead of its member companies, all of whom are industry heavyweights and are deeply involved in the ongoing projects both in India as well as globally.
Without being specific, he sees future collaboration opportunities in the Defence sector covering maritime, air and armed forces. He also sees the UK having a lot to offer on a collaborative basis in terms of what he terms “softer” capabilities.
He cited the UK’s engineering, training and programme management skills deployed across a broad range of large complex Naval and Air programmes as highly critical to both the UK and its international partners.
When asked about the UKDSC’s approach to innovation, Barclay impressed: “We are keen to look at innovation that will bridge future capability gaps and thereafter set up international partnering arrangements to co-develop solutions.”
While backed by industry majors with experts seconded in the UKDSC, the Centre is also working with Small and Medium Enterprises.
“We do a lot of work with SMEs and academia in UK. Our role is to act as a facilitator between the large primes and the SMEs, to help jointly develop future capabilities. The ultimate aim is to help SMEs and the primes to take new technologies to the end user capabilities,” said Barclay. Fiinews.com
