Securing the Defence Supply Chain

Lieutenant General Richard Wardlaw OBE has more than 28 years’ service in the British Army including key posts as Assistant Director Manning, Director Plans (British Army), Chief of Staff Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) and Director Army Basing and Infrastructure. He has served around the globe in Hong Kong, Brunei, the Falkland Islands, Germany and the UK and operationally in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Lieutenant General Wardlaw is an experienced leader of major business change, with pivotal roles in the Army Redundancy Programme in 2010, Army 2020 Programme in 2014, the Army Basing Programme and Defence Estate Optimisation Programme in 2016. In 2019 he was promoted into his current role as the first Chief of Defence Logistics and Support, driving one of defence’s most ambitious transformation programmes to deliver a new, world-class Defence Support organisation and network.

He has a BEng in Production Engineering from the University of Nottingham and an MSc in Defence Technology. He is a graduate of the Major Project Leadership Academy at Saïd Business School. He was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service (QCVS) in 2007 and 2009 following his tours of Iraq and Afghanistan and was appointed OBE in 2012.

Lieutenant General Wardlaw was appointed to his most recent post, Chief of Defence Logistics and Support (CDLS) in October 2019. As CDLS, he is the Functional Owner for Support and is responsible for driving fundamental changes in how logistics and support is coordinated across UK Defence. He is also Colonel of The Queen’s Gurkha Engineers, Chairman of the Royal Engineers Officers’ Widows Society and a Trustee of the Gurkha Welfare Trust.

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