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The very cautious approach to procurement that we see coming out of the Government now is really not helpful,” says Trevor Taylor, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank. “Longer term contracts can encourage investment by SMEs: six years rather than one plus one, with an invitation to recompete.” The Ministry of Defence knows what can be fixed, but there’s a long way to go. “If you’re an innovative company do you want to be subjected to going into a competition? There’s a risk your expertise will leak out, it’s costly and it’s time-consuming."

Burcu Ozcelik, a senior fellow at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) also notes on X: “The Houthi factor was always a question of when, not if. They remain a significant lever for Iran, but they will make their own calculations on how far to take escalation. “The more serious threshold would be renewed disruption in the Red Sea, with wider international consequences - and possibly pressure on the UK and other states to join the counter-Houthi effort alongside the US.”