Keep the UK safe £15 Billion New Funding Boost to Transform UK Armed Forces

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Britain’s Armed Forces will be ready and equipped to fight the wars of today and the future following a landmark £15 billion investment to fund key equipment and technology.

The Prime Minister announced during a major speech at Malloy Aeronautics this morning that the Defence Investment Plan will be backed by £298 billion of investment across the next four years, including £15bn of additional spending on top of last year’s Spending Review.

It will see an increase in defence funding from £54 billion a year under the previous government to almost £80 billion a year by 2029, and will see the UK’s defence spending increase to 2.7% of GDP.

This means the proportion of GDP spent on defence will now be higher than at any time during the last thirty years by the end of this decade, and puts the UK on track to meet NATO’s defence spending targets by 2035.

The major spending uplift will also create nearly 60,000 extra direct and indirect UK industry jobs by the end of the decade, taking forecasted defence spending-related jobs supported in the UK to more than half a million. 

The Defence Investment Plan set to be published later today will implement the vision set in the Strategic Defence Review, seeing the Armed Forces adapt for the wars of today and tomorrow by investing in new equipment and embracing new technology, such as drones, autonomy and AI.  

Key funding includes:

• More than £8 billion in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) over the next four years, progressing the programme which will build a next-generation stealth fighter jet for the Royal Air Force, alongside our close allies Japan and Italy.    
• More than £63 billion over the next four years to strengthen the UK’s nuclear deterrent and to fund Dreadnought and SSN-AUKUS submarines, a new warhead, and other crucial nuclear work. Additionally, we will also purchase 12 F35As and join NATO’s nuclear mission.  
• Including elements of the above nuclear investment in the first four years, £26 billion over the next decade in Project Royal Oak – the biggest naval base upgrade for over 45 years, including multi-billion-pound upgrades at Faslane, Portsmouth and Devonport.  
• Over £5 billion for the next four years to fund a drone transformation for our Armed Forces. As part of this, £650 million will deliver inexpensive expendable autonomous systems including drones and uncrewed ground vehicles to rapidly enhance the lethality of the Army, Commando Force and Special Forces.   
• Nearly £2 billion to integrate our Armed Forces through a new Digital Targeting Web. This will enable faster decision-making and speed in destroying identified targets and will be underpinned by world leading AI and software.
• £790 million over the next four years to enhance protection of the UK homeland and overseas bases from air, drone and missile threats. This will revolutionise command and control and buy new radars and sensors. We will also invest in Directed Energy Weapons, upgrade Sea Viper for our Type 45 destroyers, expand counter drone systems, and build a new Integrated Air, Space and Missile Defence Operations Centre.   
• £11 billion on munitions and weapons to increase UK stockpiles and ensure our Armed Forces have the right mix of capabilities to defeat targets, including long-range strike weapons, low-cost cruise missiles and one-way effectors. By 2030, we will have built at least six new energetics factories and increased our national munitions production capacity. 
• £900 million investment to drive efficiency and reform procurement, including a £500 million Transformation Fund to deliver productivity improving investments in AI and workforce transformation, as well as an initial £400m contribution to setting up the Multilateral Defence Mechanism. 
• £100 million for the Prime Minister’s Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce (RAID) to accelerate the deployment of AI-enabled capabilities into the hands of our Armed Forces.

On top of this, the government is investing £115 million to raise the UK’s defences against the threats from AI, including using AI to improve our biosecurity and mitigate risks posed by autonomous AI agents.