UK Defence Procurement since 1997

This book offers an in-depth analysis of the failures of the UK’s defence acquisition and procurement process, and the broader ramifications for the UK’s national security.

The UK’s record on defence acquisition and procurement constitutes one of the biggest British public policy scandals of the modern era - albeit one largely concealed from voters and taxpayers. Its recent history is characterised by high levels of incompetence, weak governance and a lack of proper accountability; defects compounded by a ‘conspiracy of optimism’ that things will turn out differently simply through the power of wishful thinking. Focusing largely on events since 1997, this book provides the first detailed assessment of the failures of this period and compares them with the performance of overseas counterparts, such as the United States, France, Australia and Canada. By focusing on a wide variety of expensive and technically disastrous case studies across all services and domains, the book seeks to highlight some of the key lessons that recent history has provided about the complex network of interrelated factors that have led to so many disappointments and failures in British military procurement. As such it demonstrates how these problems have affected UK national security and its military and diplomatic standing in a volatile and uncertain world.

This book will be of much interest to students of British politics, defence studies, strategic studies and International Relations

Robert Self devoted most of his research effort during his academic career to the study of interwar British politics and he has authored or edited ten books on related subjects including a major biography of Neville Chamberlain and a volume on the Inter-Allied war debt controversy between 1917 and 1941. Since his retirement as professor of British politics and contemporary history, he has turned his attention to the study of recent British foreign and defence policy, including most recently his Making British Defence Policy: Continuity and Change. This is his third book published on this subject area.