New administration reveals plans to implement a range of changes intended to help the Ministry of Defence and the wider sector boost innovation through improved use of digital and data

A series of newly announced changes will deliver  “the biggest reform of the Ministry of Defence in over 50 years” and will promote better and more innovative use of digital and data across the department, according to the government.

The reforms will “radically simplify” the department, it said, with “governance and processes streamlined, with innovation in technology and an improved approach to data underpinning everything the department does”. The MoD said the reforms will also be informed by lessons from its support to Ukraine, which it said had been “highly praised”.

Among the new measures will be a new military strategic headquarters, chief of the defence staff, who will formally command the individual service chiefs for the first time and will “now be central to investment decisions between the services, along with the defence secretary and permanent secretary”, the MoD said.

The ministry has opened recruitment for a new standalone national armaments director (NAD) to help fix the “broken” defence procurement system and enable the MoD to better invest in new weapons and other technologies.

The NAD will be responsible for reforming defence procurement and delivering a new defence industrial strategy. They will be asked to “ensure the armed forces are properly equipped to defend Britain, to build up the British defence industry and to crack down on waste”.

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The NAD role is currently part of the Defence, Equipment and Support chief executive’s responsibilities. DE&S chief executive Andy Start, who will retain the role until the director is appointed, said: “This fully fledged NAD role is a vitally important step towards transforming defence acquisition and the industrial base in the UK. This new role will have the levers needed to ensure our armed forces have the right kit and to deliver the defence industrial strategy we need for growth.”

The MoD said the move to bolster the NAD role is part of its plans to fix the defence procurement system,  which has been described by the Public Accounts Committee and Defence Committee as “broken” in recent reports.

In its latest report, last year, PAC called for “root and branch” reform to break a cycle of costly delay and failure.

Defence secretary John Healey announced his desire to create a standalone national armaments director position in a speech at the Policy Exchange think tank in March, while he held the same post in the shadow cabinet.