Connecting buyers, suppliers, prime contractors and academia from across the defence acquisition supply chain, DPRTE provides extensive skills development, networking, collaboration and showcase opportunities for organisations that are actively working with the defence sector or that are exploring ways to work in the UK’s £20bn+ defence procurement marketplace.

The Integrated Review Refresh 2023 updated the government’s security, defence, development and foreign policy priorities to reflect changes in the global context since the publication of the Integrated Review 2021. This was followed by the publication of the refreshed Defence Command Paper in July 2023, which sets out how Defence will deliver on the ambitions of the Integrated Review Refresh.

July 2023 also saw the announcement that an additional £2.5 billion will be invested in Defence, on top of the increased investment already committed at the Autumn Statement.

The refreshed Defence Command Paper focuses on the need to secure UK strategic advantage, achieve greater economic and industrial resilience, and contribute to national prosperity.

These aims are to be achieved by investing in people, exploiting innovation in digital, data and science & technology, forging a closer relationship with industry, improving the MOD’s acquisition processes, adopting an activist approach to defence exports, and maximising productivity.