The UK is about to see the biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War as it seeks to send “a message to Moscow,” the British defence secretary John Healey said on Sunday.
Healey said plans for defence spending will be enough to transform the country’s military, though he said he does not expect the number of soldiers – currently at a historic low – to rise until the early 2030s.
The British government aims for defence spending to hit 2.5% of the country’s national income by 2027 – with Healey saying plans are still on track to reach this target.
There is “no doubt” this figure will hit 3% by the 2030s, Healey believes.
Westminster will on Monday respond to a strategic defence review overseen by Healey and former NATO secretary general George Robertson.
This review is expected to be the most consequential since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and make a series of recommendations advising the UK on how it can deal with emerging threats both on the military front and in the cyberspace.
It will reportedly commit £1.5 billion (€1.78 billion) to build six new factories to make munitions to revive the UK’s industrial base.
Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine highlighted deficiencies in the West’s ability to procure weapons – with UK military officers warning about the nation’s low amount of munitions.
