The Defence Forum will be recognised as the centre of expertise on national and international Defence supply chain matters, including wider aspects such as Through Life Capability Management (TLCM), Logistic Information Systems, outsourcing and collaboration. This should be achieved through:

• Rigorous debate with members, academic institutions and industry representatives, research, the presentation of papers and conferences.
• Linking Defence logisticians with specialist groups and forums across the CILT to further Defence understanding, exploit commercial and industrial logistic experience, expose other sectors to Defence logistics issues.
• Opinion forming engagement with legislative and decision making bodies, such as Select and Joint Committees of parliament, other representative bodies such as the ADS, and other professional bodies, such as CIPS.
• Working Groups, comprising representatives from all areas of Defence, to innovate, explore, interpret, influence and communicate issues affecting the Defence Supply Chain.
• An exciting and varied visits programme, managed by and exclusive to members.
• Clear, regular and timely communication on key Defence Supply Chain issues.

• To support the professional network of CILT members who work in and with Defence, whether in the Armed or Civil Services, commercial sector, academia or complementary organisations.
• To explore, interpret, monitor and influence current and emerging developments in the UK Defence Support Network (DSN).
• To champion education, training and professional development by capturing and sharing innovation, knowledge, expertise and best practice, including benchmarking, peer review and best practice in the Defence Support Network.
• To provide spokesmen and Subject Matter Experts (SME) to comment on Defence Support Network topics.
• To promote the CILT in the Defence sector and beyond.
• To promote to the UK Defence industry the benefits of good logistics and supply chain management.

The Defence Forum covers the activities of an End to End supply chain from suppliers of goods and services to users on the frontline and back through the reverse supply chain in support of Defence. It also recognises the roles and activities of other players supporting and supported by the supply chain, including:

• International organisations such as the UN, OSCE, IRC etc.
• Coalitions and Allied Forces, such as NATO, FPDA, EU etc.
• Other Government Departments (OGD) such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and DFiD.
• Legislators and related opinion formers.
• Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) including voluntary organisations and charities such as those involved in humanitarian relief.
• International and UK Defence Industry, including Contractors on Deployed Operations (CONDO) and Total Support Force (TSF).
• Defence and wider Professional and Trade Associations, including ADS.
• Non-Defence UK Industry and commerce that provide MOD logistic capability in the form of Reserve personnel.
• Host Nation Support (HNS) and other supporting bodies.