MOD’s Digital Skills for Defence Programme signs up AWS

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Defence and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will see AWS supporting MOD’s Digital Skills for Defence Programme for the next three years.

It will deliver digital skills development and training to thousands of personnel across UK defence, equipping the next generation of future leaders in the British Armed Forces and wider supply chain with the data and digital skills to defend the UK from emerging threats.

The MoU sets out a number of initiatives designed to directly push the MOD’s Digital Skills for Defence programme forward at scale and pace. Key aspects of the collaboration will see the provision of:

• Training resources across the defence enterprise and in particular supporting the Digital Foundry, the visionary hub formed within Defence Digital that harnesses emerging technology to tackle some of the country’s most pressing defence challenges.

• A tailored programme of attachments for senior leaders responsible for driving the UK MOD’s digital transformation.

"Today marks a key milestone in our delivery of our Digital Skills for Defence programme and the development of digital skills across UK Defence. Amazon’s agreement to build upon and scale up our work within the Digital Skills for Defence programme is a crucial priority that will help us realise digital transformation across Defence," said Charles Forte, CIO at MOD. "It serves as an important symbol of how we must deepen our work with the tech sector to realise our objectives. We are grateful for this commitment and look forward to developing this partnership with AWS and other companies and organisations across the sector."

The MoU will enable deeper collaboration between AWS and Defence Digital on skills development, outlining plans for equipping defence leaders and military and civilian personnel with game-changing technical skills to sustain military and business advantage.

Digital Skills for Defence aims to deliver a critical digital skills capability uplift, for Defence Leaders, Digital Professionals and the whole Military and Civilian workforce. This is fundamental in building and retaining operational and business advantage, keeping up with and ahead of the competition. This ambition goes beyond education but looks to transform our learning culture and the way we work collaboratively across Defence.