# Defence Equipment and Support

Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) is a trading entity and joint-defence organisation within the UK Ministry of Defence. It began operating on 2 April 2007, following the merger of the MoD's Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics Organisation, under the Chief Executive Officer of Defence Equipment and Support.
DE&S initially had a civilian and military workforce of around 29,000 (77 per cent civilian and 23 per cent military) in the UK and abroad. By 2022, the DE&S workforce had reduced to around 11,500 with the majority based at MoD Abbey Wood in Bristol.

## History

Defence Equipment and Support was established on 2 April 2007. It is overseen by the Minister of State for Defence Procurement. The organisation supports Strategic Command and the individual armed services through Navy Command, Army Headquarters and Headquarters Air Command.

## Strategic governance
### Defence Equipment and Support Board

Board members include:
| Title | Name | Date |
| Chairman and Non-Executive Director | Mark Russell | 2019– |
| MOD Permanent Secretary (PUS) | David Williams | 2021– |
| Chief Executive Officer (DE&S) | Andy Start | 2022– |
| Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Military Capability) | Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Magowan | 2022– |
Mark Russell was appointed Chairman in November 2019.
The board provides strategic governance for DE&S and a forum for independent, non-executive support and constructive challenge to the Chief Executive and the Executive Committee. The DE&S board delegates some activities to sub-committees, namely the Audit, Remuneration, Programme Review and Nomination Committees. The Chairman ensures that the board receives feedback on these sub-committees and that it is able to consider their recommendations.

## Direction and oversight
### Executive Committee Defence Equipment and Support

Members of the executive committee include:
| Title | Name | Start Date |
| Chief Executive Officer (DE&S) | Andy Start | September 2022 |
| DG (Ships) | Vice-Admiral Paul Marshall | 2022 |
| DG (Land) | Lieutenant-General Simon Hamilton | 2024 |
| DG (Air) | Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Thompson | 2020 |
| DG (Strategic Enablers) | Adrian Baguley | 2018 |
| DG Commercial | Andrew Forzani | 2022 |
| Finance Director | David Johnson | 2019 |
| Director Human Resources | Jill Hatcher | 2021 |
| Director Strategy & Corporate Ops | Kriahna Dhanak | 2020 |
DE&S is led on a day-to-day basis by the Executive Committee, which consists of the Chief Executive Officer, Director Finance, Director Human Resources, Director Strategy & Corporate Operations, and five Director Generals who lead the delivery of the programme of work in their respective domains.

#### Sub-committees

The following subordinate Committees provide specialised support to the Executive Committee.
* Name
* Business Case Review Committee
* Innovation & Prosperity Committee
* People Committee
* Performance Committee
* Safety Committee
* Security Committee
* Transformation Committee

## Administration of DE&S and senior leadership

The organisation has been under the leadership of a civilian Chief Executive Officer of Defence Equipment and Support since 2015.

### Chief Executive Officer of Defence Equipment and Support

Chief of Defence Materiel :
| Name | Title | Date held |
| General Sir Kevin O'Donoghue | Chief of Defence Materiel | 2007–2010 |
| Bernard Gray | Chief of Defence Materiel | 2011–2015 |
| Tony Douglas | CEO | 2015–2018 |
| Michael Bradley | CEO | January 2018 – May 2018 |
| Air Marshal Sir Simon Bollom | CEO | May 2018 – August 2022 |
| Andy Start | CEO | September 2022 – |

### Director General for Air/Army/Navy/Strategic Enablers/Commercial/Resources

The Chiefs of Materiel (CofMs), now Director Generals (DGs), are responsible for managing key relationships with the capability sponsor and user. They work at the strategic level to make sure that the operational readiness and sustainability needs of the user are met.
The DGs ensure that an ethos of support to operations is in place throughout all DE&S activity.

#### Chief of Fleet Support

Chief of Materiel (Fleet)/Chief of Fleet Support/ :
| Name | Date held |
| Vice-Admiral Sir Trevor Soar | 2007–2009 |
| Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mathews | 2009–2013 |
| Vice-Admiral Sir Simon Lister | 2013–2017 |

#### Director General (Ships)

Chief of Materiel (Ships) :
| Name | Date held |
| Air Marshal Sir Simon Bollom | 2017–2018 |
| Vice-Admiral Sir Christopher Gardner | 2019–present |

##### Directorate of Ships Support

Director Ship Support :
| Name | Date held |
| Neal Lawson | 2017–2020 |
| Russell Brown | 2020–present |

##### Directorate of Ships Acquisition

Director Ship Acquisition :
| Name | Date held |
| Henry Parker | 2017–present |

#### Chief of Materiel (Submarines)

This group now is part of the Submarine Delivery Agency.
Chief Executive :
| Name | Date held |
| Ian Booth | 2017–present |
Chief of Materiel (Submarines); post renamed as Chief Executive Submarine Delivery Agency :
| Name | Date held |
| Vice-Admiral Sir Simon Lister | 2017–2017 |

##### Directorate of Submarine Acquisitions

Director Submarine Acquisition :
| Name | Date held |
| Rear-Admiral Paul Carroll | 2024–present |

##### Directorate of Submarines Support

Chief Strategic Systems Executive & Director Submarines Support :
| Name | Date held |
| Rear-Admiral Keith Beckett | 2017–present |

#### Director General (Land)

Director General (Land)/QMG :
| Name | Date held |
| Lieutenant-General Dick Applegate | 16 January 2007 – 1 September 2009 |
| Lieutenant-General Sir Gary Coward | 1 September 2009 – May 2012 |
| Lieutenant-General Sir Christopher Deverell | May 2012 – 8 March 2016 |
| Lieutenant-General Paul Jaques | 8 March 2016 – 7 December 2019 |
| Chris Bushell | 7 December 2019 – present |

##### Directorate of Land Equipment

Director Land Equipment :
| Name | Date held |
| Major-General Robert Talbot Rice | 2017–2017 |
| Major-General Colin McClean | 2017–2019 |
| Major-General Darren Crook | 2019–present |

##### Directorate of Weapons

Director Weapons :
| Name | Date held |
| Richard Smart | 2017–2020 |
| Ed Cutts | 2020–present |

#### Director General (Air)

Director General (Air) :
| Name | Date held |
| Air Marshal Sir Barry Thornton | 1 April 2007 – 30 April 2009 |
| Air Marshal Sir Kevin Leeson | 1 May 2009 – October 2012 |
| Air Marshal Sir Simon Bollom | October 2012 – April 2016 |
| Air Marshal Sir Julian Young | April 2016 – September 2020 |
| Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Thompson | September 2020 – present |

##### Directorate of Air Support

Director Air Support :
| Name | Date held |
| Adrian Baguley | 2017–2019 |
| Richard Murray | 2019–present |

##### Directorate of Combat Air

Director Combat Air :
| Name | Date held |
| Air Vice-Marshal Keith Bethell | 2017–present |

#### Director General Strategic Enablers

Director General (Strategic Enablers=) :
| Name | Date held |
| Dr Andrew Tyler | 1 May 2011 – 21 June 2011 |
| Trevor Woolley | 1 June 2011 |
| Peter Worrall | October 2013 – present |
| Adrian Baguley | July 2019 – present |

##### Directorate of Intelligence, Surveillance, Target, Acquisition & Reconnaissance

Director ISTAR :
| Name | Date held |
| Dr Simon Dakin | 2020–present |

##### Directorate of Engineering & Safety

Director Engineering & Safety :
| Name | Date held |
| Stephen Wilcock | 2020–present |

##### Directorate of Digital Information

Director Chief Digital Information Officer (CIO) :
| Name | Date held |
| Nigel Shaw | 2020–present |

##### Directorate of Programmes & Change

Director Programmes & Change :
| Name | Date held |
| Simon Hughes | 2020–present |

##### Directorate of Helicopters

Director Helicopters :
| Name | Date held |
| Air Vice-Marshal Graham Russell | 2017–present |

##### Directorate of Support

Director Support :
| Name | Date held |
| Steve Glass | 2020–present |

### Directorate-General (Commercial)

Director-General, Commercial :
| Name | Date held |
| Nick Elliot | 2015–2020 |
| Morag Stuart | 2020–present |

#### Commercial Operations

Director DE&S Commercial Operations :
| Name | Date held |
| Alan Peter | 2017–present |
| Phil Tozer | 2017–present |

#### Commercial Capability

Director Commercial Capability :
| Name | Date held |
| Mike Greatwich | 2017–present |

#### Commercial Improvements

Director Commercial Improvements :
| Name | Date held |
| Morag Stuart | 2017–2020 |
| Graham Hyndman | 2020–present |

#### Directorate-General (Resources)

Director-General, Resources :
| Name | Date held |
| Michael Bradley | 2016–2018 |
| David Johnson | 2019–present |

##### Financial Planning & Analysis

Director Financial Planning & Analysis :
| Name | Date held |
| David Johnson | 2017–2019 |
| Ann Underwood | 2017–present |

#### Directorate Human Resources

Director Human Resources :
| Name | Date held |
| Don Cuthbert | 2016 |
| Daniel Griffiths | 2019 – present |

##### Deputy Director HR Head of Function – HR

Deputy Director HR Head of Function – HR :
| Name | Date held |
| Katie Sloggett | 2020 – present |

##### HR Operations

Head of HR Operations :
| Name | Date held |
| Scott Murray | 2020 – present |

##### Performance & Reward

Head of Performance & Reward :
| Name | Date held |
| Nick Jackson, interim | 2020 – present |

##### Talent & Organisation Development

Head of Talent & Organisation Development :
| Name | Date held |
| Amanda Lammonby | 2020 – present |

##### HR (Strategic Enablers)

Head of HR (Strategic Enablers) :
| Name | Date held |
| Ruth Moesby | 2020 – present |

##### HR (Land)

Head of HR (Land) :
| Name | Date held |
| Maureen Doherty | 2020 – present |

##### HR (Air & Ships)

Head of HR (Air & Ships) :
| Name | Date held |
| Rachel Tothill | 2020 – present |

##### HR (Military Human Resources & Commanding Officer)

Head of HR (Military Human Resources & Commanding Officer) :
| Name | Date held |
| Captain Nicholas Dodd | 2020 – present |

#### Directorate Strategy & Change

Director Strategy & Change :
| Name | Date held |
| Barry Burton | 2019–2020 |
| Krishna Dhanak | 2020–present |

##### International Relations Group

International Relations Group :
| Name | Date held |
| Valerie Evans | 2019–present |

##### Corporate Communications

Corporate Communications :
| Name | Date held |
| Dawn Cunningham-Martin | 2020–present |

##### COVID-19 Operations Cell

COVID-19 Operations Cell :
| Name | Date held |
| Air Commodore Rob Woods | 2020–present |

## Major projects

DE&S manages over 600 defence procurement and support programmes for the UK's armed services. Examples of current and future procurement projects include:

### Ships

* Type 45 destroyer class
* Astute submarine class
* Albion landing platform dock class
* Bay landing ship dock class
* Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier class
* Type 26 frigate warship class
* Type 31 frigate class
* River-class patrol vessel
* Tide-class tanker
* Solid Support Ship
* Vanguard submarine class
* Dreadnought-class submarine – replacement class for the Vanguard class

### Aircraft

* Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft
* F-35 Joint Strike Fighter fighter aircraft
* Airbus A400M transport aircraft
* C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft
* Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA)/Airbus A330 MRTT aerial refueling tanker
* Apache AH64E attack helicopter
* Merlin HC4 support and Merlin Mk2 anti-submarine warfare helicopters
* Hawk 128 advanced jet trainer
* Watchkeeper Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
* Sentinel R1
* Beechcraft Shadow R1
* Airseeker
* Protector UAV
* Boeing P-8A Poseidon MRA Mk1

### Vehicles

* Warrior
* Challenger 2 and Challenger 3
* Mastiff (MRAP) Protected Patrol Vehicle
* Ajax (Scout SV)
* Panther Command and Liaison Vehicle
* Jackal 2 & 3 and Coyote
* Viking armoured personnel carrier
* Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (Boxer)
* Multi Role Vehicle-Protected (MRV-P) (MRV-P)

### Munitions

* AIM-132 ASRAAM (air-to-air missile)
* Meteor air-to-air missile
* Storm Shadow cruise missile
* Brimstone air-launched anti-tank guided missile
* FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank guided missile
* NLAW (MBT LAW) anti-tank missile
* SPEAR, Selective Precision Effects At Range munitions; see, for example, SPEAR 3

### Other

* Future Integrated Soldier Technology modular infantry equipment system
* Bowman tactical communications system
* Skynet 5 strategic communications satellite system
* Light weapons, photography and batteries (LWPB)

## Main locations

As of 2016 the main locations (with staff numbers) were:
* MoD Abbey Wood (7,920) – Head Office
* DM Beith (220) – Defence Munitions
* MoD Bicester (140) – Logistics
* HMNB Clyde (100) – Fleet Support and Defence Munitions
* HMNB Devonport (220) – Fleet Support and Defence Munitions
* DM Kineton (240) – Defence Munitions
* DM Longtown (120) – Defence Munitions
* Ministry of Defence, London (90) – Policy
* RAF Northolt (210) – British Forces Post Office
* HMNB Portsmouth and DM Gosport (350) – Fleet Support and Defence Munitions
* Rosyth Dockyard (120) – Fleet Support and Defence Munitions
* RAF Waddington (170) – ISTAR Support
* Yeovil (410) – Helicopter Support
Responsibility for 'Logistics, Commodities and Services' (including storage and delivery of non-weaponry equipment, such as food and clothing, to soldiers) was contracted out to the private sector in 2015 under an arrangement that included the transfer of 1,100 staff and construction of a new Defence Fulfilment Centre at MoD Donnington.