The Government is ramping up investment in new and emerging
technologies for the Army and Royal Navy to provide a major boost
in lethality and the effectiveness of their military operations
around the world, following the Strategic Defence Review.
The Army will deliver a tenfold increase in lethality over the
next ten years by harnessing firepower, surveillance technology,
autonomy, digital connectivity, and data - leading the way in
NATO in its use of technology to change how it fights, improving
speed and accuracy.
The Royal Navy will also ramp up new drone systems as part
of an evolution in how it fights, moving towards a mix of crewed,
uncrewed, and increasingly autonomous capabilities to secure the
North Atlantic for the UK and NATO.
The Defence Secretary will outline the Government's plan for the
biggest transformation of the Armed Forces in memory and its
approach to put NATO first during a meeting of NATO Defence
Ministers in Brussels today (Thursday).
Following the Prime Minister's commitment to the largest
sustained increase to UK defence spending since the end of the
Cold War, the Ministry of Defence will move to spending at least
10% of its budget on drones and novel technologies. This delivers
on the government's commitment to invest £5bn on new drone and
laser weapon technology, supporting thousands of jobs around the
country, as part of the Government's Plan for Change.
Key to increasing Army lethality will be the ability to rapidly
find and strike enemy targets. Prioritisation of the ‘Digital
Targeting Web' will increase the pace and scale of change already
being tested through Army initiatives like ASGARD, which is being
delivered to British troops deployed with the NATO Forward Land
Forces (FLF) in Estonia.
In the last week, the government launched procurement for a new
open framework to encourage defence companies to submit concepts
for new digital systems that could be integrated into ASGARD. The
aim is to exploit advanced technologies such as AI and uncrewed
capabilities, enabling the development of advanced digital
‘Decision' making on the battlefield.
Defence Secretary, MP said:
“We will invest in technology to give our troops the edge in the
battlefields of the future; transforming our Armed Forces and
boosting our warfighting readiness.
“This will increase our lethality, provide a powerful deterrent
to our adversaries, and put the UK at the leading edge of
innovation in NATO.
"We will back UK business to innovate at a war time pace;
creating highly skilled jobs and fast-tracking the weapons of
tomorrow into the hands of our warfighters, as part of our
Government's Plan for Change."
The government's Strategic Defence Review plan will commit the UK
to step up on European security by leading in NATO, with
strengthened nuclear, new tech, and updated conventional
capabilities – learning the lessons from the battlefield in
Ukraine.
As part of our commitment to NATO, during his visit, the Defence
Secretary will confirm for the first time that UK military
liaison officers will join the development of NATO's Forward Land
Forces (FLF) Finland. These officers will work with both Sweden,
as the Framework Nation, and Finland as they develop FLF Finland
- a vital component to strengthening the Alliance's deterrence
posture on the Eastern Flank.
On the sidelines of the meetings, the Defence Secretary is
expected to join defence ministers from Canada, Denmark, Norway
and Poland who will sign a document to join the UK-led NATO
Flight Training Europe project, that delivers a network of
training campuses to train pilots for jet fighters, helicopters,
and transport aircraft.
To boost the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier operations, the
government will invest in the cutting-edge of NATO
capability—moving to have the first ‘hybrid' carrier airwings in
Europe, where the aircraft carrier's F-35B jet fighters are
complemented by autonomous collaborative platforms in the air and
drones.
The Navy is moving towards a “New Hybrid” fleet that exploits
autonomy and uncrewed systems – along with conventional warships
- for a mix of equipment and weapons. The UK's Queen Elizabeth
class aircraft carriers are two of the most powerful warships the
UK has ever built and, following the Strategic Defence Review,
the Royal Navy's Carrier Strike programme will evolve into
‘hybrid' carrier airwings, exploiting the latest technology to
combine crewed and uncrewed platforms to make the carrier an even
more potent form of deterrence.
On major deployment to the Indo-Pacific, HMS Prince of Wales is
heading up the Carrier Strike Group right now with uncrewed air
systems onboard. In the future, the carriers' crewed air wings
will be further augmented with more uncrewed systems.
