Increased defence spending is big news at the moment and will continue to be for a few years yet! So let’s ensure the Armed Forces community benefits on various levels.
The announcement on March 3rd 2025 of new SME spending targets for defence procurement is a significant and welcome step towards making the UK’s defence sector more accessible to small businesses. Investment of this scale has the potential to drive innovation, create jobs, and fuel economic growth in communities across the country. The commitment to a new SME support hub demonstrates that the Government is serious about integrating smaller enterprises into the supply chain, which is essential for a resilient and competitive defence industry.
However, in order for this initiative to truly succeed for the Armed Forces community, we must ensure that veteran-led businesses – which bring a wealth of experience, a deep understanding of defence needs, discipline, and problem-solving skills – are also recognised and actively included in this opportunity. These businesses, founded by individuals who have served our nation, should be positioned as key players in this evolving supply chain.
For too long, red tape and complex procurement processes have been a significant barrier to SME participation in defence contracts. The introduction of this new support hub, we hope, will truly unlock the potential of small businesses. We hope also that this practical reform will streamline procurement processes, making them accessible, transparent, and achievable for SMEs without the excessive administrative burden.
With our partners at Federation of Small Businesses and British Business Bank, X-Forces Enterprise is committed to ensuring that small businesses—particularly those led by veterans—are equipped with the knowledge, funding, and support needed to compete for and deliver on defence contracts and much more.
As our CEO Ren Kapur MBE rightly points out:
“This is an ideal opportunity to test whether defence procurement can truly work with small businesses. We have long championed supply chain diversity with our Big Business supporting Small Business partners and we believe we have the expertise to ensure that SMEs have a fair chance at winning these contracts. By engaging key stakeholders and ensuring investment is distributed across the entire supply chain ecosystem, this initiative has the potential to be a transformational moment for the UK economy.”
We will continue to take this conversation forward with various stakeholders across Defence for reassurance that veteran-run businesses are not only recognised but actively integrated into the defence industrial strategy. We look forward to working with all stakeholders to turn this promising initiative into a long-term success.
Martin Wing, Chief Operating Officer
