The United Kingdom said in May 2025 that it would radically change its approach to defense to address threats from Russia, nuclear risks and cyberattacks by investing in drones and digital warfare rather than relying on a much larger Army to engage in modern combat.
Defence Secretary John Healey said the U.K.’s adversaries were working more in alliance, and technology was changing how war is fought.
“Drones now kill more people than traditional artillery in the war in Ukraine, and whoever gets new technology into the hands of their armed forces the quickest will win,” he said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer commissioned a strategic defense review shortly after his election in July 2024, tasking experts with formulating a plan for the next 10 years.
The U.K. ranks alongside France as one of Europe’s leading military powers. Its Army helps protect NATO’s eastern flank, and its Navy maintains a presence in the Indo-Pacific.
The Army, with 70,860 full-time trained Soldiers, remains the smallest since the Napoleonic era, and the government has said it needs to be reformed given growing strategic threats.
Under the plan accepted by the government, the U.K. will expand its fleet of attack submarines, which are nuclear-powered but carry conventional weapons, and will spend $20.3 billion by 2029 to replace the nuclear warheads for its main nuclear fleet.
The country will build at least six new munitions plants, procure up to 7,000 British-made long-range weapons and launch new communications systems for the battlefield.
A Cyber and Electromagnetic Command will lead defensive and offensive cyber capabilities after British military networks faced more than 90,000 “subthreshold” attacks in the past two years.
The review panel said it would not reduce the size of the armed forces, even as a greater emphasis is put on technology, but would increase the total number of regular personnel when funding allows. Healey said the number of full-time Soldiers would reach 76,000 in the next parliament.
“The moment has arrived to transform how we defend ourselves,” Starmer told workers at BAE Systems’ Govan shipbuilding site in Scotland, saying he would “end the hollowing out of our armed forces.”
“When we are being directly threatened by states with advanced military forces, the most effective way to deter them is to be ready,” he said.
The government described its policy as “NATO first,” drawing on the strength of the Alliance’s members, which means it would never fight alone.