Britain pumps £1.5bn into arms factories ahead of defence review

BRITAIN will invest £1.5 billion ($2bn) in new weapons factories to ramp up defence production capacity, the government said, ahead of a major review of its armed forces and military strategy.

The Strategic Defence Review, due to be published on Monday (2), will assess the threats facing the UK amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine and pressure from US president Donald Trump for NATO allies to bolster their own defences.

In February, prime minister Keir Starmer committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, up from its current 2.3 per cent.

The Labour leader also aimed to hike spending to three per cent by the next parliament, due around 2029.

The review will recommend "creating an 'always on' munitions production capacity in the UK" which would allow weapons production to be "scaled up at speed if needed".

It also urges the government to "lay the industrial foundations for an uplift in munitions stockpiles to meet the demand of high-tempo warfare", the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

The government has said it would procure 7,000 domestically built long-rang weapons and build "at least six munitions and energetics factories".

This investment -- which will see £6bn spent on munitions this Parliamentary term -- will also create and support 1,800 jobs, the ministry said.

"The hard-fought lessons from Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine show a military is only as strong as the industry that stands behind them," defence secretary John Healey said.

"We are strengthening the UK's industrial base to better deter our adversaries and make the UK secure at home and strong abroad."

Healey also told The Times newspaper that Britain would spend three per cent of GDP on defence during the next parliament.

The government has said it would cut the UK’s overseas aid budget to help fund the spending.

The defence review, led by former NATO secretary general George Robertson, warns that Britain is entering "a new era of threat" as drones and artificial intelligence transform modern warfare, The Guardian newspaper reported.

The document will warn of the "immediate and pressing" danger posed by Russia, as well as focusing on China, Iran and North Korea.

Robertson has described the four countries as a "deadly quartet" which were "increasingly working together".

The government this week pledged over £1bn for improving battlefield technology by bolstering AI and cybersecurity.

In that announcement Healey warned that "ways of warfare are rapidly changing" and that the UK was "facing daily cyber-attacks on this new frontline".

(AFP)