UK parliamentary committee warns over threat to defence industrial base

London: UK's Armed Forces may have to depend on foreign firms for their needs in future unless the ministry of defence provided British companies better information about future needs, a select committee of MPs has warned.

The cross-party Commons Defence Select Committee has raised the warning after UK industry chiefs voiced "huge concern" that the MoD was focusing only on short-term equipment requirements. In particular, the committee has expressed concern over the Government's failure to update the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), which helps companies plan for longer-term requirements.

The MoD has failed to update the DIS for more than three years – first in 2007 and then in 2008. It is still not clear whether an updated DIS will appear at all, the committee said.

Committee chairman, and Conservative MP, James Arbuthnot found it "astonishing" that defence minister Quentin Davies should remain "open-minded" about when a new strategy should be published. He added: "We condemn the failure to publish an updated version of the Defence Industrial Strategy and consider that its continuing absence increases the risk that the UK defence industrial base will not be able to meet the future requirements of our armed forces."

The committee was informed by Defence Industries Council chairman Mike Turner that there were concerns about Britain's ability to "play a role in the world five, 10, 15 years out".

"We have a world class defence industrial base and only focusing on the short term and not the long term is of huge concern to us," he told the committee. "I tell you now this industry is in decline and unless people pay attention to the budgeting of defence in this country and the defence industrial base we do not have a future."

In a report, the committee expressed concern about the MoD's failure to go in for long-term equipment procurement. "The UK must have the equipment it requires for the type of operations it may face in 10, 15 and 20 years' time," it said.

"It is also crucial that the UK has the industrial capabilities, identified in the Defence Industrial Strategy, to manufacture and support a significant proportion of such equipment onshore, thereby retaining operational sovereignty.

"Industry needs clarity about future equipment requirements to enable it to make the necessary investment and such clarity was to have been provided in the updated version of the strategy, which was originally expected to be published in December 2007. As is the case with many equipment programmes, the deadline for the updated strategy was missed. There is now some doubt as to whether the updated Defence Industrial Strategy will appear at all," the report said.

The defence industry in the UK in employs 305,000 people in highly skilled jobs and the sector trains thousands of apprentices every year. According to the Defence Industries Council, the defence industry pays 70% more than the national average and about 55% more than the average manufacturing salary.