The strategy was launched with Chief Scientific
Adviser, Professor Dame ,
against a backdrop of futuristic autonomous military
kit: from UAVs that can fit in the palm of a hand to
crewless all-terrain surveillance vehicles commanded
remotely from a Challenger II tank and the new AJAX
vehicle demonstrating ‘human machine teaming’ with an
unmanned all terrain buggy.
Building on the UK’s rich heritage in science and
technology, this new strategy will focus on finding and
funding the breakthroughs that will shape the future,
and ensure the armed forces are equipped to meet
tomorrow’s threats.
It will also have a renewed focus on data, including
capture and curation, which will underpin research to
identify threat trends and deliver
generation-after-next military hardware.
Defence Secretary said:
We are in a very real race with our adversaries for
technological advantage. What we do today will lay
the groundwork for decades to come. Proliferation of
new technologies demands our science and technology
is threat driven and better aligned to our needs in
the future.
The pair visited Salisbury Plain ahead of the Army
Warfighting Experiment (AWE), which this week will
showcase some of the latest British-built military
technologies.
Professor Dame
said:
We need a clear focus on what we want science and
technology to achieve. I will champion a
challenge-led approach, based on trends across
science, technology and the military, to set out what
we need to be able to do in the future and how we can
build towards it through our S&T activity.
Minister for Science Research and Innovation
said:
Placing science and research at the heart of the UK’s
defence activity will unleash a new wave of
innovation for our brilliant armed forces, equipping
them to meet our greatest challenges. By backing our
best and brightest scientific minds in every corner
of the UK, we will ensure we bolster the security of
our nation now and for decades to come.
The Army Warfighting Experiment series allows the
British Army to push the boundaries of technology and
military technology, testing a range of prototype
systems by putting them in the hands of the user while
giving invaluable feedback to suppliers. This is all
done to ensure that British troops maintain a
continuous advantage over adversaries on the
battlefield of today and tomorrow.
This complements the ongoing Integrated Review of
foreign, defence, development and security policy. The
Strategy & Technology will also be central to the
government’s ambition for the UK to cement its status
as a world leading science superpower, set out in its
ambitious Research & Development Roadmap in July
this year.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-research-and-development-roadmap/uk-research-and-development-roadmap
