UK New Attack Submarines: Britain is getting ready to face bigger and more dangerous threats in the world. On Monday, the UK government said it will build 12 new attack submarines. This is part of a big defence plan that wants to make the country ready to fight if needed. Prime Minister Keir Starmer made this announcement while speaking in Glasgow. He said the world is becoming more unsafe and that the dangers we see now are worse and more sudden than anything since the Cold War. He talked about how the war in Europe is still going, how cyberattacks happen all the time, and how Russian planes and ships are getting too close to the UK.
This new defence plan is called the Strategic Defence Review. It looks at all the dangers the country faces and explains what the UK will do next to stay safe. Prime Minister Starmer said that the British armed forces need to focus on getting ready for war as their main job. He also said the UK will stay strongly loyal to NATO, which is its most important defence promise. He said the country needs to move faster in making new military tech, so it can keep up with the new kinds of threats. The review clearly shows that the UK is now entering what the government calls a new era of danger and needs to act fast.
The Defence Secretary, John Healey, also spoke about the plans. He told Parliament that the army will be made “10 times more lethal.” This will happen by using smart new weapons like drones and artificial intelligence, but they will also keep older weapons like tanks and artillery. The goal is to mix the old and new to make the army much stronger. The government also said they will raise defence spending to 2.5% of the country’s GDP by 2027. That is the biggest defence money increase since the Cold War. According to News Central, they want to raise it even more to 3% by 2029. Some of the money for this will come from reducing money given for overseas aid.
Key investment plans from the review include:
£1.5 billion for at least six factories producing munitions and energetics
Procurement of 7,000 domestically made long-range weapons
£6 billion on munitions during the current parliamentary term
Building up to 12 new attack submarines in partnership with Australia and the United States under the AUKUS alliance
£15 billion investment in the UK’s nuclear warhead programme
£1 billion pledged for the creation of a cyber command to enhance battlefield capabilities
UK has seven Astute Class attack submarines. These are nuclear-powered and already strong, but they will be replaced by the new AUKUS submarines starting in the late 2030s. These submarines are part of a deal between the UK, the US, and Australia. This shows how much the UK is depending on partnerships to stay strong, especially with talk that US help for Europe might go down in the future.
The review also talked about other countries that are seen as a threat. It said that Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are all dangerous. A former NATO chief, George Robertson, even called them a “deadly quartet.” But under Starmer’s Labour government, the tone towards China is a bit softer than it was before. The earlier Conservative government was tougher, but now the UK wants to improve its ties with China. Even though China is still seen as a big problem, the review calls it a “sophisticated and persistent challenge,” not an urgent threat like Russia.
The UK “cannot ignore the threat that Russia poses,” Starmer told the BBC on Monday. “Russia has shown in recent weeks that it’s not serious about peace, and we have to be ready.”
Starmer said Monday he intended to turn the UK into a “battle-ready, armor-clad nation with the strongest alliances, and the most advanced capabilities, equipped for the decades to come.”
Russia is still called the biggest and closest danger, with its actions near UK waters and airspace being a big worry. There are also reports that the UK may buy nuclear-capable planes from the US to make its air force stronger. And after US leaders asked NATO countries to spend more on defence, this review is the UK’s answer to that. Starmer said this plan is a “blueprint for strength and security for decades to come,” and the UK is ready to take its place in the world as a strong and smart military power.
