Common Questions

What is the Zig-Zag programme in UK defence?: Zig-Zag is a MOD programme launched on 22 April 2026 as part of the permanent DIAG framework. It seconds private-sector finance professionals from City firms, VC and PE into MOD procurement and decision-making for finite periods.Source: UK Government / Lowdown
How does Zig-Zag differ from Sprint?: Zig-Zag is the talent-side mechanism, seconding private-sector investment expertise into the MOD. Sprint is the capital-side mechanism, attracting private investment into defence startups. They are companion programmes under the permanent DIAG framework.Source: Lowdown
Which firms can send staff on the Zig-Zag secondment programme?: No specific firms had been named at the time of publication. Zig-Zag targets City finance, venture capital and private equity professionals. The first secondment is a WATCH FOR item.Source: Lowdown
Why is the MOD trying to hire City secondees?: The MOD's procurement culture was built for large prime contractors, not seed-stage startups. Zig-Zag is designed to import commercial investment literacy from the private sector to accelerate the MOD's ability to engage with fast-moving defence technology companies.Source: UK Government

Background

Zig-Zag launched on 22 April 2026 alongside Sprint when Defence Secretary John Healey and Chancellor Rachel Reeves made the Defence Investors' Advisory Group (DIAG) permanent. It is the secondment-pathway Arm of the permanent DIAG architecture, creating a structured route for private-sector finance professionals from City firms, venture capital and private equity into the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for finite periods.

Zig-Zag's mechanism brings investment talent into MOD procurement and decision-making, with the explicit intent of accelerating the MOD's commercial literacy and its ability to engage with fast-moving startups. Where Sprint targets the capital side of the defence-startup problem, Zig-Zag targets the institutional knowledge gap: MOD procurement culture has historically been built for prime contractors, not seed-stage companies.

The programme's strategic significance is cultural rewiring at institutional level. The model has precedent in similar public-sector secondment schemes, but applying it directly to MOD investment and procurement decision-making is a distinctive instrument. The WATCH FOR signal is the first private-sector firm to second staff through Zig-Zag and the first procurement decision those secondees influence.