The Government has announced the biggest strengthening of the UK’s national defence in a generation, with a fully funded plan to grow the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP by 2030.
Following the announcement, UK defence spending will increase immediately and then rise steadily to reach £87 billion at the end the decade – hitting 2.5% of GDP by 2030.
The Government has set out three areas of focus for our bolstered defence budget:
- Firing up the UK defence industrial base: Investing at least an additional £10 billion over the next decade on munitions production, delivering high-quality jobs and investment across the UK and ensuring we have rapid production capacity and stockpiles of next-generation munitions.
- Modernising our Armed Forces: Radically reforming defence procurement and creating a new Defence Innovation Agency to ensure the UK is at the cutting edge of modern warfare technology, with at least 5% of the defence budget to be committed to R&D.
- Backing Ukraine’s defence: Ukraine’s security is our security. As part of this plan, the Government will commit an additional £500 million this year for the ammunition, air defence and drones Ukraine needs; the largest-ever single delivery of military equipment to Ukraine’s frontlines; and a cast-iron commitment to maintain existing levels of support to Ukraine for as long as it Is needed.
This is a fully-funded plan to deliver the biggest transformation of our national defence since the Cold War, moving from an aspiration to spend 2.5% by an unspecified date to a costed commitment to do so in 2030.
Defence spending will increase immediately and rise linearly – with a further £500 million for Ukraine this year and overall increase of £3 billion in the next financial year. The announcement will see an additional £75 billion for defence over the next six years, with defence spending expected to reach £87 billion a year in 2030.
The war in Ukraine has taught us that battlefield success is dependent on the ability to surge defence production and move to ‘always on’ production to replenish key equipment. We will therefore invest a further £10 billion over the next ten years, most of which will be spent with British industry, to grow our domestic munitions production pipeline and increase stockpiles, setting a clear demand signal for industry through long term multi-year contracts. This represents nearly a doubling of our current spending on munitions production.
The investment will focus on key high-tech capabilities, including air defence missiles and anti-armour munitions, in addition to continued investment in UK-built 155mm artillery ammunition. Defence already supported more than 400,000 jobs in 2021/22 - the equivalent of 1 in every 70 UK jobs – but today’s announcement will support new high-quality jobs and economic growth across all parts of the UK.
Reforms set out by the Government will also ensure we are investing in the right technologies and getting more for taxpayers’ money when it comes to defence.
A newly created Defence Innovation Agency will manage scaled up investment in R&D, bringing together the fragmented defence innovation landscape into a single responsible organisation. This includes R&D in new weapons systems such as Directed Energy Weapons or Hypersonic Missiles, as well as space capabilities and other emerging technologies. We will invest in areas that deliver advantage on the modern battlefield and better exploit low-cost solutions, like the inexpensive Unmanned Surface Vehicles seen in Ukraine.
The DragonFire laser weapons system, developed by the MoD in collaboration with UK industry partners, demonstrates how we can accelerate technological development into frontline advantage. Backed by £350 million in government funding, DragonFire can fire at any target visible in the air at around £10 a shot and with an accuracy equivalent to hitting a pound coin from a kilometre away – and the weapon is due to be fitted to Royal Navy ships well ahead of schedule in 2027.
We will also make defence procurement faster, smarter and more joined-up. The new Integrated Procurement Model, launched by the Ministry of Defence in February, will break down individual service silos and bring in checks and balances through a new integrated design authority. The model will see new technologies being used by the armed forces earlier in the process, rather than waiting for a ‘perfect’ product.
