The Ministry of Defence has presented Project Safari as a practical change to how new defence equipment reaches service. In the department's announcement, the joint programme with QinetiQ is designed to widen access to the UK's sovereign Test and Evaluation facilities so that technologies such as hypersonic missiles, directed energy weapons and autonomous systems can be assessed, refined and delivered more quickly.
The change is aimed chiefly at a long-standing access problem for smaller suppliers. The Ministry of Defence says SMEs and companies new to defence have too often faced multiple approvals and cumbersome site-access arrangements before they can test equipment in realistic conditions. Test and Evaluation, the stage at which systems are trialled against technical and operational requirements, can therefore become a delay point long before a capability is ready for service.
Project Safari is meant to simplify that route. The government's description centres on a single entry point for SMEs seeking access to facilities, specialist expertise and approval for trial activity, replacing a more fragmented process. Ministers and QinetiQ also say the programme will bring regulators, officials, industry and technology developers into a more coordinated approval model, while modernising infrastructure for a faster digital environment.
For SMEs, the practical effect would be significant if that model works as intended. Easier access to ranges and testing support gives smaller companies a better chance to generate evidence on performance earlier, which is often necessary before procurement teams can take systems forward. The Ministry of Defence argues that a smoother route into defence work should also support jobs and investment in local economies by lowering one of the barriers that has tended to favour established suppliers.
The capability focus is clear. The announcement links Project Safari to areas where testing capacity and approval speed matter directly to military readiness, including hypersonic missiles, directed energy weapons and autonomous systems. During a visit to MOD Hebrides, described by the government as the UK's largest weapons test range, Defence Minister Luke Pollard signed an agreement with QinetiQ for the first design stage of a multimillion-pound investment intended to prepare the site for hypersonic and other advanced technology testing.
The department also used the visit to underline that the programme is being shaped around supplier experience. Pollard and QinetiQ chief executive Steve Wadey held a roundtable with SME representatives including Greenjets and Cambridge Aerospace on the barriers firms meet when seeking Test and Evaluation access. Pollard also met MGI Engineering, the Oxfordshire-based company competing in Project Brakestop and developing low-cost long-range weapons for Ukraine.
In policy terms, Project Safari is being positioned as one route for meeting the Strategic Defence Review's industrial commitments. The review said defence spending with SMEs should rise by an additional £2.5 billion a year by summer 2028, and the Ministry of Defence is presenting Safari as one of the programmes that can help make that increase achievable by reducing a known barrier to entry.
The wider spending frame is also important. The Ministry of Defence says the announcement sits alongside the Defence Investment Plan, backed by £298 billion of UK defence funding over the next four years. On that reading, Safari is not only an access reform for test sites; it is part of a broader attempt to shorten the distance between prototype, trial and front-line use, with the stated aim of bringing more smaller firms into defence capability delivery.