UK to build more submarines, boost warhead spend in message to Moscow

Business Standard

2 days ago

By Tom Rees and Ellen Milligan
UK intends to send a 'message to Moscow' with plans to expand its fleet of attack submarines and invest in its nuclear deterrent as part of a new defence strategy to head off the threat posed by Russia.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government will on Monday reveal plans to spend £15 billion ($20 billion) on its warhead programme and build up to 12 new submarines as part of the AUKUS programme it operates alongside the US and Australia, to bolster Britain's 'warfighting readiness,' the Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.
Defense Secretary John Healey told the BBC that Monday's strategic defence review — which will spell out the threats facing Britain and outline recommendations to tackle them — will send a 'message to Moscow' by strengthening the UK's military and defense industry's capabilities.
'We know that threats are increasing and we must act decisively to face down Russian aggression,' Healey said in a statement. 'With new state-of-the-art submarines patrolling international waters and our own nuclear warhead programme on British shores, we are making Britain secure at home and strong abroad.'
The UK will also build six new munitions factories to create an 'always on' industrial production, buy up to 7,000 long-range missiles and invest in its cybersecurity and stockpiles of support equipment. Healey told Sky News that new factories will be built 'very soon.'
'This is Britain standing behind, making our armed forces stronger but making our industrial base stronger, and this is part of our readiness to fight, if required,' he told the BBC separately on Sunday.
However, he said a target to spend 3 per cent of gross domestic product on defence after the next election remains an 'ambition' and that he doesn't expect to make progress toward raising the number of soldiers in the British army until the next parliament. Opposition parties, including the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, said the government needs to reach the spending target sooner than 2034.
Monday's review comes after a period of underinvestment in the country's defence industry that has seen the size of the UK army shrink to its smallest since the Napoleonic era.
An end to the so-called 'peace dividend' will put more pressure on the country's stretched public finances, with Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves set to unveil departments' budget settlements at the multi-year spending review on June 11. Higher military spending comes at a time of multiple demands on the public purse, from healthcare to prisons.
'All of Labour's Strategic Defence Review promises will be taken with a pinch of salt unless they can show there will actually be enough money to pay for them,' the Conservative Party's Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said in a statement.
The Sunday Times reported that the Labour government wants to buy American-made fighter jets capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons. The review will also recommend new defensive shields to protect the country from enemy missiles as well as reestablishing a civilian home guard, according to the report.
The shift in Britain's war footing comes as US President Donald Trump presses Nato members to increase their military spending. Just weeks after Trump took office in January, Starmer announced a commitment to boost defense spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027 from 2.3 per cent currently.
Moscow launched one of its longest drone and missile attacks against Kyiv this weekend, while Ukrainian drones hit several strategic airfields in Russia, escalating tensions ahead of crucial talks in Istanbul on Monday aimed at securing a ceasefire in the years-long conflict.