Our strategy is to develop and build on our
core competencies in energetic materials and
electronics for sensors, electronic warfare
and network protection.
Group strategy
The Group strategy is focused on our four market segments –
Counter-IED, Countermeasures, Pyrotechnics and Munitions.
With the growing importance of electronics throughout our
business, our future vision statement includes a broader definition
of “protection systems”, including electronic countermeasures
and IED detection systems.
Our core strategy over the next five years is to develop and build
on our key core competencies:
- Energetic materials – We will focus on products where we can
exploit our extensive knowledge and expertise in explosive,
pyrotechnic and pyrophoric materials. We will address
niche, highly profitable markets with significant value-added
manufacture/assembly where barriers to entry are high. We will
exploit the commonality of technology and design expertise to
generate a broad centre-of-expertise that can be maintained
over the long-term future.
- Electronics for sensors, electronic warfare and network
protection – A growing proportion of our business will be
based on high integrity, high-speed electronics for detecting
and analysing threats as well as enabling a timely response.
Many of these electronic systems will be network-based.
Organic strategy
Our organic growth strategy is based on two elements:
- Geographic expansion outside NATO
- New product development
Our geographic strategy is to establish a strong local
manufacturing presence in the world’s leading defence spending
countries and to export vigorously around the world. We have
businesses in the US and Europe’s top five spending countries
(UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), and export to over 80
countries around the world. As the emphasis of global defence
spending migrates from NATO to the Middle East, Far East and
South America, we will develop our presence in these regions.
We are in the process of establishing joint ventures in India,
Saudi Arabia and Brazil.
Secondly, we will maintain a strong focus on developing
world-leading products. As a growing proportion of our business
is based on advanced electronics, we have developed parallel
energetics and electronics technology strategies.
Our energetics technology strategy is focused on materials
technology and applications engineering in five key areas:
- Explosive materials – We will develop and optimise material
formulations to improve their performance and safety.
- Warheads – We will build a lead in missile warheads and will offer
insensitive munitions (IM) variants of our ammunition products.
- Propellants – We will develop a new generation of low
vulnerability ammunition (LOVA) propellants and will build a
capability in composite rocket motors.
- Pyrotechnic countermeasures and illumination – We will maintain
our world lead in air countermeasures and will develop a full
range of spectrally-optimised pyrotechnic payloads.
- Pyrotechnic obscurants – We will lead development of safer,
multi-spectral smokes and less-lethal technologies.
Our electronics technology strategy builds on our leadership in
key niches:
- Initiation – Is the interface to energetic products, and we will
extend the application of electronics to improve the performance
of our munitions and pyrotechnic products.
- Detection – We will maintain our lead in stand-off threat
detection technologies and will enhance these with sensor fusion
and advanced algorithm development.
- Electronic warfare (EW) – We will extend our lead in man-portable
electronic intelligence equipment, and will develop
vehicle-mounted variants of our products.
- Electronic countermeasures – We will establish a world lead
in active off-board decoys, and will develop a step-change in
portable counter-IED jammers.
- Network protection – We will apply our leading capability in fast
electronic hardware to lawful intercept applications and the
protection of wirelessly networked military systems.
We will maintain an underpinning technology base to enable a cycle
of rapid product development and technology insertion through
internal research and partnerships with universities, research
institutions and technology companies. Where we cannot quickly
develop critical capabilities and technologies organically, we will
supplement this with targeted acquisitions.
Acquisition strategy
Acquisitions have been an important element of the recent growth
of the business. The successful completion of eighteen acquisitions
over the last six years has broadened our capabilities, diversified
our segmental and geographic activities, and has directly
contributed to the overall growth of the Group.
Our strategy for acquisitions is to continue to target opportunities
which add capability, technology and market access. We will exploit
synergies from such acquisitions by creating centres-of-excellence,
investing in new products and selling our products though our
worldwide channels to market.
We intend to maintain a balance of acquisition investment across all
our segments, markets and technologies.