The minefield legacy

摘要

In a previous job I was the Special Project (SP) instructor based at 33 Engineer Regiment (Explosive Ordnance Disposal). This unit, as with many others, deploys in support to the Home Office, providing specialist EOD skills in response to terrorist attacks on the UK mainland. This introduced me to the military procurement system and the specialist liaisons between such external agencies as the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) and Defence Scientific Technical Laboratory (Dstl) Porton Down. Equipment issues for such specialist (and often security sensitive) procurement programmes were often highlighted by the end-user raising concerns once kit had been developed, procured and issued to the military.