Latest news with #defenceReview
The Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Healey insists defence funding will rise to 3% target to meet review aims
Defence Secretary John Healey insisted he was '100% confident' that military funding would increase as promised to prepare the armed forces for the future. The Strategic Defence Review recommended sweeping changes, including a greater focus on new technology including drones and artificial intelligence based on rising budgets. The Government has committed to increase spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product from April 2027 but only has an 'ambition' to reach 3% during the next parliament, which is due to end by around 2034. The authors of the review have suggested reaching that 3% target is vital to delivering their recommendations while US President Donald Trump has pushed for Nato allies to spend 5%. Mr Healey denied he was gambling on economic growth to meet his target, telling BBC Breakfast: 'I'm 100% confident that we'll hit that 3%. 'The important thing for now is what we can do, and we can do now more than we've been able to do before, because of an extra £5 billion the Chancellor has put in to the defence budget this year and the 2.5% that we will deliver three years earlier than anyone expected. 'It means that a £60 billion budget this year will rise throughout this parliament and beyond.' The Ministry of Defence announced a £5 billion investment in the 'kit of the future' following the publication of the review on Monday. The funding includes £4 billion for drones and autonomous systems, and an extra £1 billion for lasers to protect British ships and soldiers. Mr Healey said the investment would provide 'the most significant advance in UK defence technology in decades' and 'ensure our armed forces have the cutting-edge capabilities they need to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world'. Part of the investment will see the establishment of a new 'drone centre' to accelerate the deployment of the technology by all three branches of the armed forces. The focus on drones comes as the technology has proved increasingly lethal on the battlefield in Ukraine, where it now kills more people than traditional artillery. At a meeting of allied defence ministers in April, Mr Healey said the UK estimated drones were inflicting 70-80% of battlefield casualties, while on Sunday Ukraine launched a major attack on Russian airfields deep behind the front line using a fleet of small drones. In addition to investment in drones and AI, the Government has announced an additional £1 billion for the development of 'directed energy weapons' (DEWs) during the current parliament. This includes the DragonFire laser scheduled to be fitted to the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers from 2027, with a similar system provided for the Army by the end of the decade. DragonFire and other DEWs are intended to provide a lower-cost form of air defence against targets including drones, costing just £10 per shot compared with the thousands of pounds it costs to fire existing weapons.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Healey insists defence funding will rise to 3% target to meet review aims
Defence Secretary John Healey insisted he was '100% confident' that military funding would increase as promised to prepare the armed forces for the future. The Strategic Defence Review recommended sweeping changes, including a greater focus on new technology including drones and artificial intelligence based on rising budgets. The Government has committed to increase spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product from April 2027 but only has an 'ambition' to reach 3% during the next parliament, which is due to end by around 2034. The authors of the review have suggested reaching that 3% target is vital to delivering their recommendations while US President Donald Trump has pushed for Nato allies to spend 5%. Mr Healey denied he was gambling on economic growth to meet his target, telling BBC Breakfast: 'I'm 100% confident that we'll hit that 3%. 'The important thing for now is what we can do, and we can do now more than we've been able to do before, because of an extra £5 billion the Chancellor has put in to the defence budget this year and the 2.5% that we will deliver three years earlier than anyone expected. 'It means that a £60 billion budget this year will rise throughout this parliament and beyond.' The Ministry of Defence announced a £5 billion investment in the 'kit of the future' following the publication of the review on Monday. The funding includes £4 billion for drones and autonomous systems, and an extra £1 billion for lasers to protect British ships and soldiers. A new era of threat requires a new era for defence. The Strategic Defence Review marks a landmark shift in our deterrence and defence ⬇️ — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 2, 2025 Mr Healey said the investment would provide 'the most significant advance in UK defence technology in decades' and 'ensure our armed forces have the cutting-edge capabilities they need to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world'. Part of the investment will see the establishment of a new 'drone centre' to accelerate the deployment of the technology by all three branches of the armed forces. The focus on drones comes as the technology has proved increasingly lethal on the battlefield in Ukraine, where it now kills more people than traditional artillery. At a meeting of allied defence ministers in April, Mr Healey said the UK estimated drones were inflicting 70-80% of battlefield casualties, while on Sunday Ukraine launched a major attack on Russian airfields deep behind the front line using a fleet of small drones. In addition to investment in drones and AI, the Government has announced an additional £1 billion for the development of 'directed energy weapons' (DEWs) during the current parliament. This includes the DragonFire laser scheduled to be fitted to the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers from 2027, with a similar system provided for the Army by the end of the decade. DragonFire and other DEWs are intended to provide a lower-cost form of air defence against targets including drones, costing just £10 per shot compared with the thousands of pounds it costs to fire existing weapons.
CBC
4 days ago
- Business
- CBC
U.K.'s defence review has lessons for Canada, says former NATO chief
Social Sharing Britain intends to expand its submarine fleet and refresh its nuclear deterrent capability as part of a wide-ranging defence review that one of its authors says Canada should read and take to heart. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who ordered the review, unveiled the plan, saying it is meant to prepare the country to fight a modern war and counter the threat from Russia. "We face war in Europe, new nuclear risks, daily cyberattacks, growing Russian aggression in our waters, menacing our skies," Starmer said during a media availability at the Govan Shipbuilders Ltd. yard in Scotland. He praised Lord George Robertson, the former secretary general of NATO who led the defence review. Robertson also spoke last week at CANSEC, the Ottawa defence arms exposition. On Monday, Starmer said Robertson's review team delivered "a blueprint to make Britain safer and stronger: A battle-ready, armour-clad nation, with the strongest alliances and the most advanced capabilities." At the centre of the review is a plan to replace the U.K.'s existing Vanguard-class nuclear submarines and to expand the fleet to 12 boats, including both nuclear and conventional attack variants. Significantly, the review pledges to update the U.K.'s nuclear weapons deterrent, known as the sovereign warhead programme, a £15-billion ($27.8-billion Cdn) investment. There are growing questions in Europe about whether it can rely on the nuclear umbrella of the United States. Unlike other nuclear military powers, the U.K.'s deterrent is deployed exclusively on ballistic missile submarines, not on land, nor in the air. Britain has at least one ballistic missile boat at sea at all times. The defence plan also calls for the construction of six munitions factories in the U.K. and for closer co-operation between government and the defence industry in order to accelerate innovation to a "wartime pace." In total, the review makes 62 recommendations, which the U.K. government is expected to accept in full. Starmer, as part of his statement Monday, pledged a hefty increase to U.K. defence spending, bringing it to 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product by 2027, with "the ambition to hit three per cent in the next Parliament." He added, however, the goals are subject to economic and fiscal conditions. Robertson, speaking at CANSEC last week, said there's a lot in the U.K. review for Canadians to consider — a message he conveyed privately to Canadian ministers, including Mélanie Joly, the newly appointed industry minister. In a later interview with CBC News on the margins of CANSEC, Robertson said in order to meet ambitious defence plans, bottlenecks in procurement are going to have to be removed. "We are actually seeing on the battlefield in Ukraine that we can duplicate that. How can we speed up decision-making?" he said. He said there needs to be "a much closer and more intimate relationship between the defence industry and the politicians in charge of defence" so that the decision-makers understand what's needed and what's possible from a company perspective. Robertson met with several defence contractors at the conference. "I get from a lot of the companies here, the Canadian companies here, a degree of frustration about the procurement process," he said. "I think [the ministers] are beginning to see, that if they are going to spend more money on defence, they can only spend it if there is a a more streamlined form of procurement." He said both the U.K. and Canada need to "much more to protect themselves, rather relying endlessly on the Americans, for ammunition and for equipment." Canada updated its own policy in the spring of 2024, under the government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau. The re-elected Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney is promising to increase defence spending, as well as buy a fleet of new conventionally powered submarines. Carney has promised Canada will reach the NATO benchmark of two per cent of GDP defence spending by 2030 — or sooner. Robertson, in his interview with CBC News, said it's been frustrating to watch a nation for which he has so much affection "not living up to the obligations" originally set out by the Western military alliance in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea. He said he's encouraged by Carney's pledge.
