LONDON (Dispatches) -- Britain announced it will build 12 new attack submarines as it unveiled Monday a major military review to deal with what it characterized as “growing” Russian aggression and the changing nature of warfare.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer told BBC radio that “there is greater instability on defense and security than there has been for many, many years, and greater threats.”
His Labor government later published its Strategic Defense Review, a document that assessed perceived threats facing the UK.
The review warned that Britain was entering “a new era of threat” as drones and artificial intelligence transform modern warfare.
“I wanted a review that told me the challenges we’re actually facing and likely to face for the foreseeable future,” Starmer told the BBC Monday.
“And the principles are clear: war-fighting readiness, integrating our forces... and a NATO first approach,” he added.
The UK has been racing to rearm in the face of Russia and fears that U.S. President Donald Trump will no longer help protect Europe.
Starmer said it would serve as “a blueprint for strength and security for decades to come”.
His government pledged in February to lift military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027 in the “largest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War”.
And despite budget constraints, it aims for spending to rise to three percent in the next parliamentary term, due in 2029.
The Labor government has said it will cut UK overseas aid to help fund the spending.
Based on the recommendations of the review, which is led by former NATO secretary general George Robertson, the government said Sunday that it would boost stockpiles and weapons production capacity, which could be scaled up if needed.
This includes £1.5 billion ($2 billion) for building “at least six munitions and energetics factories”, procuring 7,000 domestically built long-range weapons, and spending £6 billion on munitions over the current parliamentary term.
The government also said late Sunday that it would build up to 12 new attack submarines as part of its AUKUS military alliance with Australia and the United States, and invest £15 billion in its nuclear warhead program.
The defense ministry last week pledged £1 billion for the creation of a “cyber command” to help on the battlefield.