The British government unveiled its long-delayed Defense Investment Plan with a commitment to spend an additional $19.9 billion over the next four years, only a little more than half the $37 billion defense ministers and the military had been seeking. File photo by Andy Rain/EPA
July 1 (UPI) -- The British government published its long-delayed Defense Investment Plan with a commitment to spend an additional $19.9 billion over the next four years, only a little more than half the $37 billion defense ministers and military brass had been seeking.
No. 10 said in a news release Tuesday that the extra money will boost total spend between now and 2030 to $395 billion, with the biggest money going on the country's submarine nuclear deterrent and nuclear-capable fighter aircraft, replacing weapons and munitions gifted to Ukraine, a new next-gen fighter, making drone warfare a key defense priority and upgrading bases and air defenses.
The approximate $100 billion a year spending compares with $71.6 billion a year before the Labour government came into office in summer 2024, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed in a speech at a drone manufacturing plant outside London later in the day that the new money would come from shaving 1% from the budgets of other departments.
