Painfully aware of the vulnerability of British defense expenditures and the risk that 2010's Strategic Defense Review will be driven by cost rather than capability, the U.K.'s Defense Industries Council (DIC) lobbying group is broadening its efforts to sustain government support for the sector, or at least limit the damage as budgetary pressures mount.

In two documents published Sept. 1, the DIC argues that the sector provides an important -- and undervalued -- contribution to the U.K. economy, while supporting national security and foreign policy.

The documents -- "Securing Britain's Future and Prosperity," and a report by Oxford Economics commissioned by the DIC, "The economic case for investing in the UK defense industry" -- are attempts to try to shape the agenda for the next government's Strategic Defense Review (SDR).

Regardless of which party is returned to power, a full-blown defense review by no later than mid-2010 is now viewed as inevitable.

Mike Turner, DIC chairman and a former BAE Systems CEO, says the outcome of the next SDR "needs to be adequately funded." A previous review in 1998 was generally well received by industry, but its recommendations and goals were not sufficiently financed.

More recently, full implementation of the government's 2005 Defense Industrial Strategy has struggled as a result of inadequate funding.

As far as the 2010 SDR is concerned, Turner says it needs to "avoid the old trap of setting out commitments not matched by investment."

In parallel to the SDR, the council also is arguing that the government "refresh" the Defense Industrial Strategy (DIS). A second iteration of the industrial strategy document is long overdue to be published. Industry, however, wants any revision of the DIS to be appropriately funded.

Cuts in government research and development expenditures also were highlighted by the council as a cause for concern, and a trend it wishes to see reversed.

The Oxford Economics report was commissioned by the council to "investigate the economic case for increasing investment in the UK defense sector as a means of stimulating the UK economy."

Turner stresses the wealth-creation effect of the defense industry as a contributor to the national coffers.

While the government has provided economic support to some industrial sectors during the global downturn, the defense sector has not particularly benefited. There has, however, been a notable increase in expenditures on urgent operational requirements as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Photo credit: House of Commons