Why does defence equipment procurement take so long? This question continues to perplex those outside the procurement system, as well as many insiders. The immediate answer is because it is a very complex business and that it is paid for by public funds that need to be not only spent wisely, but also seen to be spent wisely. But is that full justification for taking up to two decades to develop a weapon system, with the consequences of high cost, obsolescence on fielding and late capability enhancement for the end-user? Costs gets plenty of scrutiny, but overall timescales do not; yet the overall timescale has a very significant bearing on overall cost. In this issue, the RUSI Acquisition Focus and the contention@rusi.org section explore the time factor and look at what needs to be done. That it can be improved is clear from examples from World War Two and, more recently, from Urgent Operational Requirements (UOR). Time is a crucially important subject - are we fighting a global war on terror with a peacetime procurement mentality?
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