Team Complex Weapons

Team Complex Weapons (Team CW) defines an approach to delivering the UK’s Complex Weapons (CW) requirements in an affordable manner. This value for money proposition also ensures a viable industrial capacity.

The implementation of the Team Complex Weapon’s approach between Ministery of Defence (MoD) and MBDA is through the Portfolio Management Agreement (PMA), which has been independently evaluated as offering greater than £1Bn of benefit to MoD over their 10 year planning period.

The PMA aims to transform the way in which CW business is conducted by MoD with its main supplier. At the heart of this is a joint approach to the delivery of the required capability based on an open exchange of information and flexibility in the means of delivery.

– Portfolio Management Agreement
– Achieving benefits
– Delivering a difference

Milestones

2005 – Defence Industrial Strategy launched

2006 – Team Complex Weapons (MBDA, Thales, Roxel, QinetiQ) formed and announced at Farnborough International Air Show.

2008 – Testing the Team CW Principles through an Assessment Phase in June 2008, the Ministry of Defence awarded the first element of a £250 million Assessment Phase to test the Team CW approach towards the delivery of future Complex Weapons capability. The Assessment Phase (AP) was implemented through separate enabling contracts with MBDA (UK) Ltd and Thales UK for the six programmes contained within it, and a legally-binding Teaming Agreement to refine and test the Team CW approach/business Model. Subsequent elements of the AP were approved during 2009.

2010 – In March, the MoD signed a Portfolio Management Agreement (Interim), the PMA-I, with MBDA following the conclusion of the Assessment Phase, which had demonstrated the feasibility and benefits of the Team CW approach.  Under the agreement, the MoD and MBDA UK signed a Through Life Enabling Contract (TLEC) with its first package of work worth £330M for the development and manufacture of two of the six Team CW launch projects and to conduct further assessment work on two projects.

2012 – February: “National Security Through Technology” White Paper reaffirmed the importance of sustaining Freedom of Action and Operational Advantage for aspects of complex weapons where National Security is an essential consideration.

2013 – Building on lessons learned through operation of the Portfolio Management Agreement (Interim), an updated agreement between UK MOD and MBDA now called the “Portfolio Management Agreement” was signed on the 17^th July 2013.

2015 – UK MoD and MBDA continue to successfully operate the Portfolio Management Agreement.