Defence Industry Procurement, Acquisition and Lifecycle Management

The aim of this course is to recognise, articulate and understand the various practices of defence acquisition from a history of in-government generated capabilities with publicly-owned armouries through to procurement of capabilities from global, overlapping commercial sectors through competition. Students will be able to understand and analyse the benefits and risks of procurement preferences and locate defence acquisition within understandings of programme lifecycle management. This course will introduce the components and complexities of international defence acquisition and focus in part on global companies competing for market share. We will explore the challenges of procurement through the lens of sovereignty overlaid with the critiques of inter-dependency and national economic returns on defence investments. The role of the government as a capability integrator will be explored as well as the practice of prime contractors as systems' integrators. In particular, we will explore and interrogate:
models of acquisition;
the defence acquisition cycle and through-life project management;
defence competition and commercial campaigns;
technology generation, management and notions of intellectual property as sovereign wealth;
the roles of intellectual property, knowledge and competencies in international collaborations;
critiques of defence acquisition in a century of strategic defeat.
We will apply these themes and learnings to worked programme examples such as the F35 aircraft programme and the Type 26/Hunter Class frigate programme.

Students will learn how to summarize the key elements of the multiple and contested practices of defence acquisition and review the effects these practices of defence acquisition have on the generation of defence capabilities. On completion of the course, students will be able to scrutinize, analyse and evaluate the condition of defence acquisition and disciplines such as through-life management, and their significance to the military components of nations.