UK defence and the armed forces: future trends

Government legislation and funding policy will continue to play a major role in shaping the direction of the armed forces and emergency services sector.

Following the spending review in October 2010, cuts have been scheduled for the armed forces. Current spending in defence will be reduced by 7%. The RAF and Royal Navy will lose 5,000 jobs and the Army will lose 7,000. The Ministry of Defence will also have job cuts and will lose around 25,000 civilian staff. This will all have implications for future recruitment.

There is an increasing emphasis on partnership working throughout the sector. In the armed forces for example, the trend towards joint and multinational operations will see personnel working more closely alongside coalition allies and representatives from civilian government and non-governmental organisations.

Advances in science and technology are changing the way the sector operates. Examples include:

• digitisation of the battlefield and Network Enabled Capability (NEC), which is expected to enable more efficient sharing and exploitation of information within the armed forces, MoD and coalition partners
• additional investment in new control room technology and ambulance vehicles to help further improve response times to urgent calls.

Science and technology will continue to play a key role and the need for graduates with specialist IT, communications and science skills is expected to increase.