WASHINGTON — Britain's top military procurement official visited Washington this week with a clear message: the United Kingdom is open for business.

In a speech here Tuesday, Philip Dunne, the UK's Mminister of Sstate for Ddefence Pprocurement, emphasized the industrial supply chain that British industry can provide to defense manufacturers around the world.

Dunne talked up the local defense industries in the UK, emphasizing that even if British companies are not producing systems as a prime they still have a key role to play.

"What we are keen to do is to encourage prime contractors who are domiciled outside the UK to look at the UK defense supply chain as a place to do business," Dunne told reporters after his speech. He held up Lockheed Martin as a good example, noting the world's largest defense contractor employs around 3,000 people in the UK and is using technology developed in the UK on the F-35 joint strike fighter.

"There is a very healthy relationship between the UK defense supply chain and US primes," he added. "We have been actively encouraging US and other non-UK domicile primes to come into the UK to explore our supply chain."

Even outside the US, the UK could play a role. In particular, Dunne noted, the shipbuilding world provides opportunities. While he noted nations largely want to handle shipbuilding themselves as a matter of national pride, "many of those nations don't have the design capacity to build everything which goes into them, and I think the UK has a good opportunity through our maritime industry to cooperate with other nations as they seek to replenish their vessels."

But the relationship between the US and UK remains the most fruitful, and it one that Dunne believes should be expanded.

"It is notable that over the past few years, the US and UK defense industries have become increasingly intertwined. Your biggest defense primes … are big players in our market and vice versa," he said in his speech. "What's curious to me, as the head of our procurement ministry… is the trade often seems to go largely in one direction. Put simply, we buy a lot more from you than you buy from us."

That doesn't just mean buying each other's gear or jointly building industrial concerns, Dunne said, . I it also plays into co-development of technologies, Dunne said.

That is similar to concerns brought up by US undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall, articulated in his "Better Buying Power 3.0" initiative, which calls for more collaboration with partners on technological developments.

"We have global allies, friends, and trading partners who share our values and can assist us in pursuing innovation and technological superiority," the Better Buying Power guidance reads. "Increased investments in cooperative research, co-development, and co-production may also provide better products for our warfighters at reduced cost."

Dunne, who met with Kendall earlier in the day, hit on similar ideas with his comments.

"At a time when we all need to get more for less, isn't there more we could do to capitalize on our closely aligned supply base? Can we afford to ignore duplicative technology solutions that already exist elsewhere?" he asked rhetorically. "I can assure you that whenever the US opens up to our supply chains, it will find us primed and ready to deliver."

Getting the US to collaborate on developing technology with partners has been an issue in the past, in large part due to security concerns — even with close allies like the UK. But there is a growing awareness inside the Pentagon that those concerns should no longer hold back co-development programs.

In a May interview with Defense News, Alan Shaffer, the outgoing principal deputy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, said he hopes to see more collaboration among partners.

"There are difficulties and there are going to be complications. But with that said, if you look at the world now, technology and information is a global commodity," Shaffer said at the time. "If we cut ourselves off from the global marketplace in the name of national security, then we are either going to have to spend a hell of a lot more money or we are going to see some of our capability advantage erode."

"At some point, we are going to have to be willing to take risk to be able to operate in that world," he added. "I think that is a very important nuance."

Resistance remains towards buying non-US goods, however. In particular, Britain has struggled to get its Brimstone missile into US stocks, despite generally positive reviews from those familiar with the weapon.

Asked whether he had given up hope of selling the weapon to the US, Dunn said "no" and said there is "continuing interest" in reaching some agreement, but declined to say whether he discussed it during his meeting with Kendall.

Email: amehta@defensenews.com

Twitter: @AaronMehta

Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.

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