Boards and committees
How NATS, the National Aerospace Technology Strategy, is directed, challenged and reviewed.
Governance structure
NATS is steered through a small set of linked bodies. Each body has a defined remit, and decisions move upward only when they affect the strategy as a whole.
Strategy board
The strategy board sets the overall direction for aerospace technology investment. It agrees priorities, approves the technology roadmap and decides how funding is balanced across programmes.
Technology committee
The technology committee reviews the maturity of individual programmes against agreed readiness levels. It advises the strategy board on which projects should advance, pause or close.
Advisory panels
Advisory panels bring in specialist knowledge from research organisations, suppliers and operators. Their role is to test assumptions and flag risks early, without holding decision rights of their own.
How members are appointed
Membership of each body is drawn from industry, academia and government. Appointments aim to balance expertise across the full aerospace supply chain.
Terms of service
Members serve fixed terms so that the bodies keep fresh perspectives while retaining continuity. Terms are staggered so that no body changes entirely in a single year.
Declaration of interests
Every member declares commercial and academic interests before taking part. Where an interest bears on a decision, the member steps back from that item.
Working method
Side note: papers go to committees at least two weeks before each meeting, so that members can read and prepare.
Each meeting follows a fixed sequence. Papers set out the decision required, the evidence behind it and the options considered. Minutes record the reasoning as well as the outcome, so later reviewers can follow how a choice was made.
Committees report back to the strategy board after each cycle. Reports are short and state any disagreement plainly.
Reviewing the roadmap
The roadmap is reviewed at fixed points in the year. Each review compares programme progress with the milestones set at the start of the cycle.
Meeting record
Minutes and agendas for each body are kept in a single record, so that the decisions of any period can be traced back to the papers that informed them.
Papers and minutes are published once a decision is final, unless a restriction applies to commercially sensitive material.