MoD names its first Director General Innovation to run a £3.7bn technology budget
Anthony Reeves will lead a new National Armaments Innovation area covering about 4,800 scientists and specialists across four defence bodies.
By Daily Oracles News Team1 min read
The Ministry of Defence has created a single senior post to oversee its spending on new technology and appointed Anthony Reeves to fill it.
As Director General Innovation, a three-star senior civil service role, Reeves will run what the department calls National Armaments Innovation. The money attached is £3.7bn over four years, made up of a ring-fenced £1.6bn defence innovation budget and £2.1bn of core science and technology investment. He joins the National Armaments executive committee and takes up the job this autumn, after an external competition.
What comes under the new area
Four existing bodies, with about 4,800 scientists and specialists between them, are being brought together:
- the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, known as Dstl
- UK Defence Innovation
- the Defence Investment Unit
- the Defence Uncrewed Systems Centre
UK Defence Innovation was itself launched in July 2025, with a ring-fenced budget of at least £400m a year.
The department says the post is meant to get new technology into service faster, with closer work alongside industry, universities, other government departments and allies.
Background
Reeves comes from Deloitte, where he led its UK and NATO digital defence work and was its global AI leader for defence and security. He previously worked on defence programmes at Microsoft, PA Consulting and Detica, and served as an infantry officer in the British Army.
