United Kingdom To Reform Its Armed Forces Based on the Ukrainian Model

The United Kingdom is announcing one of the most extensive overhauls of its armed forces in recent decades, drawing on lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to publish the corresponding Defense Investment Plan (DIP) before stepping down, according to Politico.

The new roadmap is designed to implement the objectives of the Strategic Defense Review, which warned of the return of major war to Europe, and comes amid a financial crisis within the ministry that led to the resignation of former Defense Minister John Healey earlier this month.

For decades, Britain’s military might has relied primarily on large and expensive ships—aircraft carriers and nuclear-armed submarines.

However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has upended the old model of European defense, exposing the vulnerability of such platforms, the urgent need for vast stockpiles of inexpensive ammunition, and the accelerated shift toward autonomous systems.

One of the plan’s most radical decisions was to freeze funding for the construction of up to eight Type 83 destroyers and Type 32 frigates, which were intended to restore the Royal Navy’s strength in the 2030s.

Instead, Britain will invest in at least six new Common Combat Vessels, which will serve as command posts for unmanned underwater, missile, and radar platforms.

The transition to unmanned technologies will also affect the Royal Air Force, which has announced plans to develop autonomous jet aircraft to operate alongside manned aircraft.

Implementation of this program will fall to Andy Burnham, who is set to lead the government later this summer.

The document calls for adding approximately 15 billion pounds to the defense budget, which will help the country move closer to NATO’s new target of spending 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2035.

Of this amount, 5 billion pounds will be allocated to a large-scale transformation of unmanned systems, as Ukraine’s experience of deploying 200,000 drones per month has served as a benchmark for Britain.

The plan also funds the creation of Europe’s largest drone testing center and a special task force to continuously scale up drone production.