Joint marketing strategy of defence industry
India is among the main defence markets for the Defence Group Partnership (DGP) Team UK’s long-term strategy for rebuilding global partnerships through international collaborations, innovation and co-manufacturing.
The DGP was established in 2012 by the UK Government and British defence companies to take a fresh approach in promoting UK defence capability globally and for jointly addressing issues such as the shortage of engineers and supply chain development, said Ian Draper, Head of Capability – Air at UK Defence Solutions Centre.
“The UK Defence Solutions Centre is a key work stream of the DGP and it was formed in 2015 as a joint entity that represents British defence industries and academia working closely in partnership with the UK Government to develop future capabilities both for the UK and our International partners. said Draper at DSEI 2019 held 10-13 September in London.
The concept of Team UK is that government, industry and academia work together in a smarter market approach to develop international partnerships for the UK defence sector.
“We have a very vibrant industry across all defence capabilities in the UK, but the international market is highly competitive and our approach to international partnerships is key. Team UK provides a coherent approach for our international customers to jointly develop capability with the UK,” Draper conceded.
“To provide a coherent approach to our international partners Team UK provides a single point of engagement across industry, academia and UK Government Ministries such as the Ministry of Defence, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for International Trade. It is a joined-up approach,” continued Draper.
Elaborating, he said “our plans are to work with markets such as India where innovation and collaboration in defence is welcomed and with potential to work with Indian industry.”
Team UK is not looking for immediate deals, stressed Draper.
“We are marketing the best of British capabilities, services and expertise with a partnership approach. We want to identify capabilities both in the UK and in key markets such as India where there is opportunity to collaborate,” he explained.
“We want to talk to potential customers and industry about the long term and how technologies, innovations and capabilities fit into their defence and security requirements,” he underlined in the strategy of being a long-term player in the global market.
There are 14 founders that represent about 80% of the UK’s defence sector in terms of companies and nine associate members.
The founder members are: Airbus, Babcock, Cobham, Leonardo, MBDA, Raytheon, Serco, Atkins, BAE Systems, General Dynamic, Lockheed Martin, QinetiQ, Rolls Royce and Thales.
The associate members are: University of Southampton, Cranfield University, Ultra Electronics, Meggitt, Fujitsu, Boeing, Imperial College of London, GKN Aerospace and King’s College London. fiinews.com
