The export potential of the military equipment that the MoD develops is rarely given due consideration as part of the requirements setting and procurement process. Yet increased foreign military sales have the potential to deliver direct benefits to the MoD's efforts to procure military goods efficiently due to:
• the potential for joint funding and risk sharing in development;
• increased production volumes over which to amortise development and overhead costs, leading to reduced unit costs; and
• improved delivery against the Defence Industrial Strategy objectives.
In addition, additional exports could deliver a number of broader economic and diplomatic benefits:
• the provision / maintenance of jobs, particularly highly skilled jobs, in the UK;
• help the UK's balance of payments; and
• an additional lever that would strengthen the UK's negotiating position in the context of foreign policy, thereby assisting in delivering broader diplomatic and strategic objectives.
It has been asserted that the MoD currently lacks the skills and organisation to implement such a 'French-style' policy. In particular, the significant use of service personnel within the capability and procurement functions may hinder progress due to the single Service agenda and rotation issues associated with their use in line reporting roles for new equipment procurement (see Chapters 7 and 8). Also, improving export performance would require close co-operation between the requirements setting and capability communities and industry, for which MoD is currently ill-prepared.