The United Kingdom’s (UK’s) new government has announced it will conduct a fresh review of UK defence requirements.
In a statement released on 16 July, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) would bring a “root and branch” assessment of these requirements. Overseen by UK Secretary of State (SofS) for Defence John Healey and led by Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (a former SofS, and a previous NATO Secretary General), the review is scheduled to report in the first half of 2025, the statement added.
Recognising the urgent need to address the threats facing the UK, SDR work will start immediately, the statement noted.
The review will reach across the MoD and UK armed forces, the whole of government, MPs of all parties, the UK’s NATO allies and other partners, the defence industry, the academic world, and the UK military veterans community.
Conducting a defence review is routine for an incoming government. However, at a strategic level, three particular issues will impact SDR’s scope, shape, and outcome. These issues are: the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war; challenging UK and NATO relations with Russia; and the UK government’s stated commitment to proceed towards spending 2.5% of GDP on defence, despite wider national and international economic challenges.
At the recent NATO summit in Washington, D.C., UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer reaffirmed the commitment to the 2.5% of GDP defence spending target.
The MoD’s statement outlined the range of issues SDR will wrestle with. “Amid war in Europe after [Russia’s] illegal invasion of Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East, and global threats increasing, the review will consider the threats Britain faces, the capabilities needed to meet them, the state of the UK armed forces, and the resources available. It will ensure a ‘NATO-first’ policy is at the heart of Britain’s defence plans,” it said.
In the statement, SofS Healey added: “We need to be clear eyed about the threats we face, with the world becoming more volatile and technology changing the nature of warfare. In response, our armed forces need to be better ready to fight, more integrated, and more innovative.”
While innovation will be key in tackling new threats like cyber-attacks and information warfare, the increase in more traditional threats is reflected in the government’s commitment, including through the SDR, to modernise and maintain the UK’s submarine-based nuclear deterrent.
The UK’s two most recent defence-related reviews, the Integrated Review (IR) of defence and security policy, and the associated Defence Command Paper (DCP), were published in tandem in March and July 2023, respectively. Prior to that, an IR and a DCP were published in parallel in March 2021. These four reviews were all published by the previous government. A new review was inevitable with the arrival of a new government. Nonetheless, the regularity of the UK’s recent review drumbeat is an indicator of the speed of security change across the Euro-Atlantic theatre and beyond.
by Dr. Lee Willett
