{"id":73419,"date":"2026-06-30T12:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/73419\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T12:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:23:09","slug":"britain-to-announce-investment-in-future-tech-centered-defence-without-hitting-gdp-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/73419\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain to announce investment in future tech-centered defence without hitting GDP targets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, followed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis arrive for the announcement of a defense plan, in Berkshire, England on Tuesday.Stefan Rousseau\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Self-flying fighter jets, uncrewed submarines and drones will be at the centre of Britain\u2019s future military under a defence plan being announced Tuesday that reflects a world of conflicts transformed by technology.<\/p>\n

The Defence Investment Plan has been repeatedly delayed as military leaders and Treasury officials wrangled over the cost of equipping the U.K. military for an increasingly dangerous world. Like other NATO countries, the U.K. is under pressure to increase defence spending to counter a more aggressive Russia and less reliable United States. <\/p>\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the plan will keep Britain safe in \u201ca more dangerous and volatile world than at any time for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the blueprint does not commit to spending three per cent of U.K. GDP on defence by 2030, one of the factors that spurred John Healey to resign as U.K. defence secretary on June 11.<\/p>\n

U.K. defence minister resigns over military spending dispute, in blow to embattled Starmer<\/a><\/p>\n

Healey accused the government of underspending on the military at a time of \u201crising threats,\u201d citing a British intelligence assessment that Russia could attack a NATO member country by 2030. He said that the plan put forward by the Treasury would see spending rise to just 2.68 per cent in 2030, after hitting 2.6 per cent next year.<\/p>\n

Starmer said Healey\u2019s successor, Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis, had worked to \u201csharpen and strengthen\u201d the plan. It now includes \u00a315 billion ($20 billion) in spending \u2013 more than the \u00a313.5 billion ($18 billion) Healey was offered, but far less than the \u00a328 billion ($37 billion) that defence officials had called for.<\/p>\n

Starmer said the three per cent target will be reached \u201cin the next Parliament,\u201d a period that could extend to 2034.<\/p>\n

Starmer said the plan will ensure \u201cour servicemen and women have the cutting-edge capabilities they need to deter evolving threats and keep the British people safe.\u201d The full document is due to be published later Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The plan is a road map for how the U.K. will increase military spending to NATO\u2019s target of 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035. The U.K. military is seeking to reverse years of decline in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, which invaded its neighbour Ukraine in 2022 and increasingly tests the defences of European nations with overt and covert activity.<\/p>\n

The U.K. has watched how drones have transformed war in Ukraine<\/a>, which uses 200,000 of them a month to defend against Russian forces. Britain plans to invest billions in drone systems across all branches of the military. Instead of a planned fleet of new destroyers, the Royal Navy will get hybrid vessels that will act as command hubs for drones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe very nature of conflict is changing before our eyes,\u201d Starmer said during a speech at a drone manufacturer near London. He said that, armed with cutting-edge technology, Ukrainian forces have destroyed Russia\u2019s Black Sea fleet, \u201cstruck deep into Russian territory and stopped the advance of one of the biggest armies in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Britain and other NATO member nations have faced pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to increase military spending. Trump has long questioned the value of the military alliance and complained that the United States provides security to European countries that don\u2019t pull their weight.<\/p>\n

The resignations of Healey and junior Defense Minister Al Carns were among a series of blows that prompted Starmer to announce last week that he will resign. He is likely to attend a NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and eight in one of his last acts as prime minister.<\/p>\n

British PM Keir Starmer says he will resign by September<\/a><\/p>\n

His successor, likely the former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham<\/a>, will be under pressure to stick to the commitments in the defence plan.<\/p>\n

Opposition Conservative Party defence spokesperson James Cartlidge said the plan was \u201ctoo little, too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan is now almost a year overdue and only being rushed through because Keir Starmer is desperate for a legacy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, followed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[5564,5555,5420,345,5547,13,5565,1193,5546,5560,5561,5557,5548,5545,254,28,528,5559,5553,5576,5549,5550,181,5556,424,2441,5566,5551,5571,5572,5574,5569,5573,5567,5570,2843,5562,5563,14,654,5568,5554,1426,104,5558,5552,46,5575],"class_list":["post-73419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-britain","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}