The British Army is ramping up its investment in modern weaponry such as drones and lasers as part of a broad revamp of the UK’s defence capabilities.
The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) aims to make the Army “10x more lethal” by combining more people and armoured capability with air defence, communications, AI, software, long-range weapons and land drone swarms.
The major funding package includes more than £4bn for autonomous systems and a further investment of nearly £1bn for Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) this parliament. The DEW investment will include the DragonFire laser, which is expected to enter service onboard Royal Navy ships in 2027. The laser can track and potentially destroy targets including drones, missiles and aircraft with exceptionally high accuracy.
Meanwhile, a new Drone Centre will be established to accelerate exploitation of small, uncrewed air systems across all three military services, helping to deliver them to the front line faster.
The SDR also emphasises a major shift towards greater use of autonomy and AI within conventional forces to boost the accuracy and lethality of armed forces while reducing some of the upfront costs.
The Royal Navy plans to move towards a dynamic mix of crewed, uncrewed and increasingly autonomous surface and sub-surface vessels and aircraft. It will also develop ‘hybrid’ carrier airwings where crewed combat aircraft (F-35B) are complemented by expendable, single-use drones.
The Royal Air Force will invest in a sixth-generation jet as part of the Future Combat Air System, which will include a combination of crewed, uncrewed and autonomous aircraft.
“These investments will mean the most significant advance in UK defence technology in decades,” said defence secretary John Healey.
“We will ensure our Armed Forces have the cutting-edge capabilities they need to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world. We are delivering the SDR’s vision to put the UK at the leading edge of innovation in Nato by backing British industry and fast-tracking the kit of the future into the hands of frontline troops.”
The Ministry of Defence said it will invest £6bn in munitions this parliament. This will include £1.5bn in an ‘always on’ pipeline and building at least six new energetics and munitions factories in the UK, creating over 1,000 jobs.