Abstract: Defence research is about far more than technology. It is the mechanism through which a defence establishment learns, adapts and remains strategically relevant. This article argues that the real challenge is not simply increasing R&D expenditure, but ensuring that research continuously informs strategy, doctrine, capability development and defence policy.
Dr Joan Swart
Keywords: Defence Research and Development (R&D) | Defence Strategy | Military Innovation | Force Development | National Security | Capability Development | Strategic Learning
DEFENCE RESEARCH IS ABOUT MORE THAN TECHNOLOGY
A recent DefenceWeb article warned that South Africa allocates only around 1% of its defence budget to research and development (R&D), well below the 5% benchmark generally regarded as necessary to sustain innovation and future capability. While the figures are concerning, the real issue extends far beyond budgets. It raises a more fundamental question: what is defence research actually for?
Research Is How Defence Learns
Early in my engineering career, I spent 12 years working in research and development at Sasol. Looking back, one lesson has remained with me more than any specific project or technology. Research was never undertaken simply to satisfy scientific curiosity or produce technical reports. Its purpose was to solve problems, reduce uncertainty, improve processes and create competitive advantage.
Years later, while writing a chapter on research and evidence-based practice for The Coach’s Handbook, I realised that exactly the same principle applies across almost every profession. Whether in engineering, medicine, sport or defence, research is ultimately the mechanism through which experience is converted into better practice. The disciplines differ, but the underlying process is remarkably similar.
That insight immediately came to mind when reading the recent debate surrounding South Africa’s defence R&D expenditure. The discussion has understandably focused on declining investment, yet the more important issue is often overlooked. Defence research is not simply about developing new technologies. It is about enabling a defence establishment to learn continuously in an environment where the character of conflict is constantly changing.
Every military enters the future carrying assumptions shaped by its past experiences. Technologies evolve, adversaries adapt, alliances shift and new vulnerabilities emerge. The challenge is therefore not simply to acquire better equipment, but to ensure that strategy, doctrine, force design, procurement and operational concepts evolve alongside an increasingly complex strategic environment.
Research performs that function.
It challenges assumptions before they become costly mistakes. It identifies emerging trends before they become operational necessities. It evaluates new concepts before they are implemented across the force. It converts operational experience into improved doctrine, informs procurement decisions and helps policymakers anticipate rather than simply react to strategic change.
In short, research is how defence learns.
More Than Laboratories and Technology
Research and development is often viewed through the narrow lens of science and engineering. Laboratories, prototypes, missiles and advanced electronics naturally come to mind. These remain essential, but they represent only one dimension of defence research.
Military history repeatedly demonstrates that strategic advantage rarely belongs solely to the force with the most sophisticated technology. It more often belongs to the force that learns fastest.
The German development of combined-arms doctrine during the inter-war years was not simply a technological achievement. It represented the integration of research, experimentation, doctrine and training into a coherent operational concept. Britain’s success during the Battle of Britain depended not only on radar technology, but on developing an integrated air defence system that connected early warning, command and control, fighter operations and decision-making. More recently, the war in Ukraine has illustrated how rapidly commercial drones, artificial intelligence, electronic warfare and battlefield innovation can transform military operations when institutions are capable of learning and adapting at speed.
Technology mattered in each of these examples, but only because it was accompanied by institutional learning.
The same principle applies to defence organisations more broadly.
Research strengthens strategic foresight. It informs doctrine. It improves logistics, procurement and force design. It evaluates emerging threats, examines future operating environments and helps identify the capabilities likely to be required years before they become urgent operational necessities.
Perhaps most importantly, research creates knowledge advantage.
Military professionals frequently speak of information superiority or technological superiority. Yet both ultimately depend upon something deeper: the ability to generate, evaluate and apply knowledge more effectively than potential adversaries.
Knowledge, rather than technology alone, increasingly determines strategic advantage.
Building a Defence Knowledge Ecosystem
South Africa is not starting from scratch.
The country possesses many of the institutional components required to support defence research and innovation. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) continues to undertake internationally respected defence-related research. Armscor remains an important contributor to technology development and acquisition support. The defence industry retains considerable engineering expertise despite sustained financial pressures. The Faculty of Military Science at Stellenbosch University contributes military scholarship, professional military education and strategic research, while universities across the country conduct work in fields ranging from engineering and cybersecurity to artificial intelligence, logistics and international relations.
Within the SANDF itself, operational experience, exercises and experimentation generate valuable knowledge that should continually inform future capability development.
The question, therefore, is not whether South Africa possesses the necessary institutions.
The more important question is whether these institutions function as an integrated defence knowledge ecosystem.
The strategic value of organisations such as the CSIR, Armscor, the Military Academy, universities, industry and the SANDF depends not only on the quality of their individual work, but on the extent to which their outputs inform one another and ultimately influence strategic decision-making.
Research findings that remain confined to academic journals or technical reports contribute little if they do not shape doctrine, procurement priorities, force development or defence policy. Equally, operational experience has limited long-term value if lessons identified during exercises or deployments are not systematically analysed and translated into future research priorities.
Much of this interaction already exists through established structures, collaborative projects and long-standing professional relationships. The issue is not whether collaboration occurs, but whether it is sufficiently institutionalised, strategically directed and adequately resourced to keep pace with an increasingly dynamic technological and geopolitical environment.
From Research to Strategy
One of the greatest challenges facing any research organisation is that producing knowledge and applying knowledge are not the same thing.
Research only creates strategic value when it influences decisions.
In industry, research is not regarded as complete when a report is published. It is complete when processes improve, products evolve and organisational performance advances. Defence should be no different.
The same principle applies throughout the defence establishment.
Research begins by informing national defence strategy, but it should also underpin every subsequent stage of the strategic process. It guides doctrine, capability development, procurement, force development and operational planning, while operational experience generates new questions that feed back into further research. In this way, strategy becomes a continuous cycle of learning, adaptation and renewal rather than a linear planning exercise.
This is not a linear process.
It is a continuous cycle of learning and adaptation.
Without that cycle, strategy gradually becomes disconnected from reality. Doctrine reflects yesterday’s conflicts. Procurement responds to yesterday’s technologies. Organisations become increasingly reactive rather than anticipatory.
In an era characterised by artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, cyber operations, space capabilities and rapidly evolving geopolitical competition, that is a strategic risk no defence establishment can afford.
The recent debate surrounding South Africa’s defence R&D expenditure should therefore not be reduced to a discussion about whether 1% should become 5%. That is an important question, but it is not the most important one.
The more fundamental question is whether South Africa has developed a defence system capable of learning continuously from technological change, operational experience, academic research and strategic analysis—and of translating that learning into better policy, doctrine, capability development and procurement.
Every successful military is ultimately a learning organisation.
Research is not simply about producing new technology. It is the mechanism through which strategy remains relevant, institutions adapt and military capability evolves.
In an increasingly uncertain strategic environment, investment in defence research is therefore not merely an investment in innovation.
It is an investment in South Africa’s future strategic relevance.
NONGQAI’S Strategic Security Analyst Dr Joan Swart is a forensic psychologist with an MBA and an MA in Military Studies. Her work focuses on African security, geopolitics, state fragility, substate dynamics, and the intersection between governance, legitimacy, and coercive power. She is the author of several books and regularly publishes long-form analysis and opinion pieces on security and governance issues. Her writing has appeared in outlets including DefenceWeb, Maroela Media, Netwerk24, RSG, Visegrad, and other policy and public-affairs platforms. She has a weekly slot on SAfm The Global Briefing to analyse world affairs. Her work bridges academic research, policy analysis, and applied strategic assessment, and she is currently completing a second PhD at the University of Stellenbosch Military Academy. Follow her on X/Twitter, Substack, and LinkedIn.
