The Ministry of Defence (MoD) spent over £600 million on research contracts and grants in the 2023–24 financial year, according to a recent written response to Baroness Wolf of Dulwich.
However, only a small proportion of that funding—between 1% and 5% in most categories—was awarded to UK universities.
While the MoD acknowledged its overarching commitment to supporting “a secure and prosperous United Kingdom through allies, industry and academia,” it also confirmed that limitations in its internal systems prevent precise tracking of which contracts are designated as research. The figures provided came from selected organisations within the MoD that were able to verify their research-specific expenditure.
In 2023–24, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) spent £461.1 million on research contracts, with 4.8% going to universities. Navy Command allocated £130.85 million, with just 1.3% awarded to academia. Notably, grants from Dstl and the Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO) were more university-focused: both awarded 100% of their £10 million and £3.2 million grants, respectively, to higher education institutions.
The previous year’s numbers reflect a similar pattern. In 2022–23, Dstl spent £387.6 million on research contracts, of which 4.7% went to universities. Navy Command’s research contract spending was £80.06 million, with a negligible 0.03% reaching academia.
Although these figures suggest a consistent commitment to external research, they also reveal that the majority of defence research spending continues to go to industry rather than universities. Still, 100% of the relatively modest research grant allocations have gone to academic institutions in both years surveyed.
The figures also highlight the growing role of Navy Command in MoD research, with spending rising from £80 million in 2022–23 to £130 million in 2023–24. This includes delivery by Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), which accounted for £32 million and £70.03 million of the totals, respectively.
The MoD has not ruled out efforts to improve transparency in tracking research contracts, particularly those involving academic partnerships.
600m is barely more than 1% of the defence budget (I believe we spent just under 54bn on defence in 2024).
That % seems very low for an ever developing field where there is so much cutting edge technology required.
I think Reeves said something about ring-fencing some amount of money for RnD in the Spring Statement, so it must be apparent we are underspending to the bigwigs at least.
Bonzo, this £600m is for contracts placed with external agencies and does not represent the totality of military R&D spend in this country. Need to add in what Dstl spend internally on R&D and what various Defence Industry companies including QinetiQ spend on PV R&D (ie use their own money).