24 AIR POWER 2017 21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPSFOREWORDHARRIETT BALDWIN MP
MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PROCUREMENT
A
s I reflect on my first year as the Minister for
Defence Procurement, and as we look forward
to the challenges and opportunities of a new
Parliament, I continue to be amazed not only
by the scale, variety and complexity of the Defence-
industrial partnership landscape, but by the genuine
dedication on behalf of all parties to deliver the very best
capabilities for our Armed Forces, not least the Royal
Air Force (RAF). In all its endeavours, the RAF brings to
bear not just its enviable reputation for professional
excellence and operational effectiveness, but its equally
high standing as an intelligent partner, too, especially
with our industrial colleagues and international partner
nations. Every Government department, but especially
Defence, has a role to play in meeting the National Security
Objectives of protecting our people, projecting our
influence and promoting our prosperity, and the RAF is at
the forefront of delivering in each of these key domains.The RAF’s outstanding contribution – 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week – to our increasingly successful struggle against Daesh
in Iraq and Syria and on Quick Reaction Alert air defence duties
in the UK, the Falkland Islands and on NATO’s eastern flank, all
profoundly demonstrate its vital contribution to keeping us safe.
And the RAF continues to project the UK’s positive influence
around the globe, through its participation in a multiplicity of
NATO, bilateral and multilateral exercises, as perhaps most visibly
demonstrated in the past year during the deployment of the Red
Arrows and Typhoon, Voyager and other aircraft to the Asia-
Pacific region on Exercise Eastern Venture. Such enterprises not
only send a very powerful message to our partners and potential
adversaries that Britain is a globally engaged power that lives
up to its treaty obligations and responsibilities as a permanent
member of the UN Security Council, but also serve as a highly
important opportunity to showcase our world-class aerospace
industry and demonstrate that the UK is open for business.
As many have observed, there can be no security without
prosperity, and no prosperity without security. It is an obvious
conclusion, therefore, that the Royal Air Force should work
closely with industry both to enhance its combat effectiveness
and to contribute to the prosperity which makes such
enhancements affordable and achievable. So, endeavours
such as Eastern Venture, in which our industry partners’
cooperation is invariably essential, are never just military
exercises: they support every aspect of our country’s security
objectives, including a sharp focus on our prosperity aims.
The synergy that exists between security and prosperity is
being enhanced by the Defence Growth Partnership (DGP), which
has brought together industrial expertise with UK Government
Departments, academia and research establishments to leverage
our collective efforts more effectively to meet our national
security aims. The DGP is working to secure a truly competitive,
sustainable and globally successful UK Defence sector that
provides affordable leading-edge capability and through-life
support for our Armed Forces and international customers, as well
as bringing wider economic benefits to the UK. Its success rests
on the trust, collaboration and collective will of its constituent
partners. It is through the adoption of a whole ‘Team UK’
approach, which represents the whole UK Defence sector, that
we will maximise the gains for the UK as a whole, and we have