The Ministry of Defence has awarded a £320 million contract to IBM UK to deliver a new platform designed to overhaul how the Armed Forces manage and maintain their equipment.
The Defence Equipment Engineering Asset Management Systems (DEEAMS) project will replace 17 existing applications with a single system intended to improve efficiency and support decision making. According to the MoD, the system will serve more than 65,000 users across 130 military platforms and assets.
The platform will incorporate artificial intelligence to provide real-time data on maintenance, stock availability, and engineering planning. Officials say this will enable the Armed Forces to predict repairs, manage resources more effectively, and adopt new technologies in future.
The contract is expected to create more than 100 highly skilled jobs in the UK. The MoD estimates the system will generate more than £1 billion in savings through reduced support and IT costs.
Luke Pollard, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, said the investment formed part of wider efforts to modernise the military’s capabilities and ensure equipment can be delivered to personnel when needed, both at home and abroad.
The government has committed to raising defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by 2027, with an ambition of reaching 3% in the next Parliament. Officials describe the DEEAMS project as central to the Strategic Defence Review’s aim of accelerating digital transformation within the Armed Forces.
Rahul Kalia, managing partner at IBM Consulting UKI, said the company would work with partners to deliver the system, which is intended to provide predictive intelligence and data-driven insights to support military planning and decision making.
The programme is part of the Defence Industrial Strategy, which aims to link military modernisation with economic growth and the adoption of new technology.
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