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Welcome everybody to DSEI 2023. It鈥檚 a true honour聽to open this world class defence exhibition. I鈥檒l do my best to make up for the Red Arrows.

As you can seen as you鈥檝e been walking around inside, it just gets bigger and better.

100,000 square metres of space devoted to Defence.聽More than 2,800聽defence and security suppliers, large and small, plus the biggest names in tech. More than 1,500 exhibitors.聽230 new聽exhibitors. 98 per cent of the聽top 100 Defence聽companies.

Plus representatives from 50 nations and 36 international pavilions. Welcome to you all, wherever you come from.

This week is the opportunity to see the whole of the Defence ecosystem in one place. A chance to marvel at the dazzling聽array of聽state-of-the-art聽capabilities from space and cyber to medicine and manufacturing.

And there鈥檚 a reason this is the biggest DSEI in its history.

We are all seeking greater security in a more volatile world. Much of the blame for that ongoing uncertainty lies with Russia鈥檚 illegal and senseless invasion of Ukraine.

Together with the new assertiveness of aggressor nations, the Russian government are posing an unprecedented threat to聽our entire聽international order. Yet despite the brutality of the invaders, brave Ukrainians are continuing to hold the line and the UK, alongside its allies, is proud to support them.

Yet,聽with the global dangers growing, we must continue to ask ourselves one question. What more we can do to strengthen聽our deterrence and defence?

Of course, there must be investment.

That鈥檚 why, since the 2021 Defence Command Paper, the UK has committed to聽investing heavily in modernising our Armed Forces.

Next year we will spend more than 拢50 billion on defence for the first-time. Indeed, the Government is committed to increasing spending further over the longer-term of 2.5% of GDP where fiscal conditions allow.

And we must keep finding new ways to get more punch for our pound.

So our refreshed Command Paper, building on the lessons from Ukraine, sharpens our approach. If you tour the different zones and you鈥檒l discover a new vision for our forces. Multi-domain, linked by a Digital Backbone, augmented by Artificial Intelligence and underpinned by three fundamental principles.

Now, we love a good acronym in the MOD and I鈥檝e actually invented one here 鈥� PIP.

The first is pace. If you doubted the rapid transformation we鈥檙e seeing on the battlefield, you only need to look at the way Ukrainians are deploying drones and uncrewed systems to target and destroy the enemy. By contrast, our acquisition programmes were simply not keeping up pace with the changes on the ground.

So we鈥檝e started buying simpler platforms more quickly.聽Reducing the time taken to identify solutions, place contracts and send capabilities to the frontline. We鈥檙e setting maximum commitments 鈥� five years for acquisition programmes and聽three for digital.

And already the system is starting to move in our favour. I鈥檓 pleased to confirm the Army has procured the Interim Artillery Platform Archer in just two months and its delivery I can confirm is imminent for the first gun.

And we鈥檝e also realised that we don鈥檛 have time to hold out for the 100 per cent solution. Eighty per cent is often 鈥榞ood enough鈥�. Especially when you can as we say 鈥榮pirally鈥� develop that capability to meet changing circumstances. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e building on our positive experiences of Type 31 and Boxer, these crucial platforms, and seeking to acquire modular platforms that can be rapidly upgraded.

Also on the plus side, the UK has long been an innovation nation. Don鈥檛 take my word for it. Just wander past the DSTL stand to explore the latest advances in聽high altitude balloons, electromagnetic research, air platform protection and high energy lasers.

The second element of our approach 鈥� the I in 鈥楶IP鈥� - draws us neatly back to the theme of the conference itself: integration.

Producing聽equipment at the speed of聽relevance requires greater聽integration with industry. That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e creating a new alliance with our industrial partners.

Evolving the traditional customer-supplier relationship into a long-term strategic alignment. A relationship that allows us to share both the risk and reward聽that comes with generating new capabilities much faster.聽And taking a new approach to exports 鈥� something I鈥檒l say more about shortly in another speech.

As part of that new relationship, we鈥檙e making sure we provide our industry partners with a much clearer demand signal about our intentions, our planning assumptions, and our evolving requirements.

In return, we will need to see from industry the strongest possible supply signal 鈥� investing in delivery, particularly investing in the skills and people we need to deliver.

That brings me to the third and final dimension - international partnerships. There are many people here from abroad and you鈥檙e more than welcome. If there鈥檚 one thing we鈥檝e learned in the last two years it鈥檚 that 鈥� in the face of diverse and complex threats 鈥� we simply can鈥檛 go it alone.

So we鈥檙e striking new capability partnerships. With the United States and Australia through AUKUS 鈥� which coincidentally marks its second anniversary this week.

And with Japan and Italy over GCAP, the Global Combat Air Programme. These are much more than collaborations on next generation submarines and sixth generation fighters respectively.

They are about like-minded nations with shared values developing joint expertise together.聽Helping create shock-resistant supply chains. And catalysing long-term opportunities that create the sort of sustainable skills and industrial base that lasts for generations.

So, to conclude, I encourage you to explore our stands. Experience at first hand the fantastic technology on display. And make friends with DSEI鈥檚 class of 23. The brilliant brains behind the kit. Those making the UK world leaders. The real stars of the show.

Throughout this week, you鈥檒l find a thousand and one reasons to buy British at DSEI. But don鈥檛 forget to look beyond the mere transactional. Seize the opportunity to stake a share in something more significant than a sale.聽A trusted partnership.

Ultimately, we can only deliver for our Armed Forces by working in partnership, and to that end I offer you all the warmest possible welcome to DSEI 2023.