LONDON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Self-flying fighter jets, uncrewed submarines and drones will be at the center of Britain\u2019s future military under a defense plan announced Tuesday that reflects a world of conflicts transformed by technology.<\/p>\n
Like other NATO countries, the U.K. is under pressure to increase defense spending to counter a more aggressive Russia and less reliable United States. But its Defense Investment Plan has been repeatedly delayed as military leaders and Treasury officials wrangled over the cost, and critics said the its pledge of a 15 billion pound ($20 billion) boost to defense spending won\u2019t be enough. <\/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
\u201cWhen the world is arming and aggression is rising, the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But the blueprint does not commit to spending 3% of U.K. GDP on defense by 2030, one of the factors that spurred John Healey to resign as U.K. defense secretary on June 11. 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. <\/p>\n
In the House of Commons on Tuesday, Healey said that \u201cwith European security at stake,\u201d Britain needs \u201cto develop a clear, credible funding plan that will hit 3% and that will meet our NATO commitment of 3.5% by 2035.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starmer said Healey\u2019s successor, Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis, had worked to \u201csharpen and strengthen\u201d the plan. Its 15 billion pounds in new spending is more than the 13.5 billion pounds ($18 billion) Healey was offered by the Treasury, but far less than the 28 billion pounds ($37 billion) that defense officials had called for.<\/p>\n
U.K. faces pressure to hit NATO target<\/p>\n
Under the plan, defense spending will hit 2.7% of GDP by 2029. Starmer said the 3% target will be reached \u201cin the next Parliament,\u201d a period that could extend to 2034. The U.K. remains committed to hitting NATO\u2019s 3.5% target by 2035, though it\u2019s unclear how it will get there.<\/p>\n
The government said the new funding will boost spending on defense to almost 300 billion pounds ($400 billion) over the next four years. Big-ticket items include 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) for drone technology, 8 billion\u202fpounds ($10.6 billion) to build new stealth fighter jets alongside Japan and Italy, and 11 billion pounds ($14.5 billion) to increase weapons stockpiles. The U.K. will also spend 64 billion pounds ($85 billion) modernizing its nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
Starmer said some road and energy projects would be scrapped to help pay for the military.<\/p>\n
The U.K. military is seeking to reverse years of decline in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, which invaded its neighbor Ukraine in 2022 and increasingly tests the defenses of European nations with overt and covert activity.<\/p>\n
The U.K. has watched how drones have transformed war in Ukraine, 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
Critics say more money is needed<\/p>\n
Britain and other NATO member nations have faced pressure from President 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. A NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8 may be his final overseas trip as prime minister.<\/p>\n
His replacement, likely the former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, will be under pressure to stick to the commitments in the defense plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a platform on which I know my successor will build,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n
Opposition Conservative Party defense spokesperson James Cartlidge said the plan was \u201ctoo little, too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
And retired Gen. Richard Barrons, who helped lead a defense review in preparation for the investment plan, said \u201cwe have to find more money for defense sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not keeping up with our allies, we\u2019re certainly not keeping up with our enemies, and we know that the U.S. is no longer going to come and save European security in the face of a Russian threat,\u201d he told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Lawless writes for the Associated Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Self-flying fighter jets, uncrewed submarines and drones will be at the center of Britain\u2019s future military under a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1059887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[290981,748,473,9057,31239,393,9058,290980,4884,2819,1232,1144,5029,6971,51342,712,31172,15689,16,15,1764,26],"class_list":["post-1059886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-aggressive-russia","tag-britain","tag-defense","tag-defense-spending","tag-drone","tag-england","tag-european-security","tag-future-military","tag-great-britain","tag-john-healey","tag-money","tag-northern-ireland","tag-plan","tag-pound","tag-pressure","tag-scotland","tag-starmer","tag-u-k","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales","tag-world"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116839786823552848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1059886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1059886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1059887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1059886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1059886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1059886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}