Defence, security and resilience
Is this defence opportunity worth pursuing?
I help technology companies and suppliers decide whether a defence opportunity is worth their engineering time. We look at what the buyer needs, what you can already show and whether a partner would help.
The decision in front of you
Technology companies and smaller suppliers. Is there a real requirement, competition or funding call your technology fits, and what would the buyer need to see before committing to a trial or contract? Depending on the opportunity, you may be able to bid directly or work with a prime or framework holder. We can look at which route is open to you and what a partner would need to bring.
Primes. Which smaller suppliers can bring you the innovation you need, and what must be agreed with them before you fix the design or commit to delivery? The hardest gaps are often between organisations: each supplier can meet its own specification and the system can still fall short of what the people using it need.
Overseas manufacturers building a UK base. Building a UK supply chain starts with deciding what to source here and what your suppliers will need to demonstrate, then bringing them up to speed with defence security and ways of working.
MOD and government. What evidence do you need before approving a requirement or committing budget, so the capability can be afforded in numbers and kept working?
When you've lived with a bid or a requirement for months, these gaps are easy to miss.
Why it matters to me
In 2003 I went to war in a Royal Navy destroyer with only one working weapon system. The spares were being shared across the fleet.
My aim is affordable, supportable, battle-winning capability at the front line, sooner. It taught me the question I still ask when I review a plan: what will the people using this equipment need to keep it working?
How it works
- 1
A free 30-minute call.
Describe the decision in general terms and I'll say what I'd look at first. If a review day wouldn't help, I'll say so.
- 2
A review day, if it would help.
We agree one question, who should join and what I should read. Within a week of the day you get written priorities, the reasons behind them and a suggested owner for each action.
£2,500 + VAT for days booked by 31 December 2026; £4,999 + VAT from 1 January 2027. Includes the agreed reading and the written report. Travel and accommodation for days in person are agreed beforehand and charged at cost.
- 3
Then it's your call.
You can act on the report with your own team or ask me to quote for further help.
Decisions people bring to a review day
- whether an opportunity is worth pursuing, and what the buyer will need to see first
- which route to take: directly, or with a prime or framework holder, and what each partner brings
- what evidence a trial needs to produce, and which approvals you may need
- integration with other systems, interoperability with allies, and through-life support
- what the tender will ask you to show about financial resilience, cyber security and social value
If you're deciding whether to commit to a trial, for example, the report will set out what you can decide now, what evidence is still missing and who could close each gap. Where specialist advice or accredited testing is needed, it says so plainly.
Who you'd be working with
Brad Wright CEng served eighteen years as a Royal Navy engineer officer, from warfighting at sea to national and multinational headquarters. As project manager for the Stingray torpedo system at the Defence Procurement Agency, he ran a competitive re-tender that saved £1.5m (23%) and directed live firing trials with UK and Norwegian forces. He also led combat system proving trials for the Type 23 frigate's anti-submarine warfare systems, and won NATO approval for a sixteen-nation munitions standardisation programme. He holds an MSc in Guided Weapon Systems from Cranfield University at Shrivenham.
Much of his career since has been leading multi-agency, cross-functional and international expert teams in defence, government and other sectors: £354m of London 2012 security projects, the transformation of Interserve Defence's 99 sites, and approval times for £30m to £300m MOD ICT programmes cut from 18 months to about three. He has also run engineering businesses, including as group COO integrating seven acquired engineering firms, so he knows what it takes to bid, scale and deliver while running the company.
Questions people ask
Usually not. Defence buys against funded requirements and competitions, and it often can't describe its hardest problems in public. The better route is to work out which problems your technology could plausibly solve, find the people and funding calls that own them, and decide whether you need a partner to get there.
The Defence Investment Plan (June 2026) sets out a Buy British by default approach for priority subsectors. For a UK supplier that means more opportunity and a higher bar: buyers and primes will want evidence that you can scale, hold the right quality and security approvals, stay financially sound and commit for the life of a programme.
Yes: deciding which capabilities to source in the UK, what a British supplier needs in place to meet your standards and defence security requirements, and how to bring new suppliers up to speed. I've integrated acquired engineering firms into a group, and helped qualify the suppliers for London 2012's security projects.
Plan for it before the trial. A review day can look at what a much larger order would take in people, premises, supply chain and cash, and what to put in place early.
Buyers often want rights to use and control what they pay for; many suppliers need to keep their IP to sell to other customers, because defence alone isn't a big enough market. A review can help you decide what you need to keep and what you can offer, and when to bring in an IP lawyer.
Government wants defence innovation to find wider markets, and technology from other sectors to help solve defence problems. Dual use can strengthen your case with investors and buyers; a review can test where it applies.
Yes, on an interim basis, where a programme needs experienced capacity and judgement for a period. Book a call and we'll agree the role, duration and terms.
The first call is free. A review day is £2,500 + VAT for days booked by 31 December 2026, then £4,999 + VAT, including the reading and a written report within a week: the gaps that could affect your decision, the priorities in order with the reasons, suggested owners, and the assumptions stated plainly.
If you've decided to bid and need help writing the response, use a bid writer. A review day helps while you're still deciding whether to bid, who to bid with, or what evidence to put behind it.
Keep the first call to general terms. Please keep sensitive or classified material out of email and booking forms. Before any papers are shared, we agree what you’re authorised to share and which channel to use. Book a free 30-minute call below.