Armed Forces are only as strong as the industry behind them, Defence Secretary says

The Armed Forces are only as strong as the industry that backs them, the Defence Secretary has said at the London Defence Conference.

John Healey spoke at the conference about national security, Nato, and defence programmes.

He said one of the conclusions of the Strategic Defence Review, which will be released in the first half of this year, is that there must be a strong British defence industry to keep the Armed Forces equipped.

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"[The] Armed Forces in the country is only as strong as the industry that stands behind them if forced to fight or facing conflict," Mr Healey said.

"So, there will be a really powerful emphasis on the strength, resilience and innovation of British industry."

He highlighted the changing nature of warfare in Ukraine as a reason to innovate and speed up defence procurement.

The Defence Secretary commented that six-year timelines for major defence procurement projects to obtain a contract "simply can't continue".

With the Strategic Defence Review expected soon, Mr Healey revealed that it was very close to being ready.

Lord Robertson, a former Secretary General of Nato, is leading the review along with Dr Fiona Hill, an ex-deputy assistant to the US president, and General Sir Richard Barrons, a former Commander Joint Forces Command.

The review has involved more than 120 experts from the field, approximately 50 meetings with military chiefs, and 8,000 contributions and responses, the Defence Secretary said.

Mr Healey suggested that the review aimed to establish a long-term vision for the Armed Forces.

"The process that we've gone through has been about creating the vision that we need for a more rapid transformation of our forces and our defence and deterrence capability," he said.

Ahead of the EU-UK summit on 19 May, he mentioned the Labour government's desire to reach a defence agreement with the European Union.

"We were willing and wanting, if we could, to strike a UK-EU defence agreement," he added.

The London Defence Conference took place at King's College London.

It allows leaders, politicians, the military, industry and academia to come together to discuss the most pressing policy matters in the defence field.

The theme of this year's conference was alliances in light of the increasing threat from China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.