The Labor government, which won the elections in the UK, did not hesitate to radically tackle the issue of the country's defense capability and decided to review defense policy. The Strategic Defence Review will be delivered at pace and report in the first half of 2025.
That should give a real assessment of the level of the country's defense capabilities and become the foundation for the transformation of the British Armed Forces, which should move to a "new era".
Read more: The UK Defense Intelligence Explains russia’s Gas Price Surge
Such a decision is connected with the real threat of the "deadly quartet", as it was officially called in London - the russian federation, China, the DPRK and Iran. One of the key goals of this review is to support Ukraine.
The review, due to be completed in the first half of 2025, has been entrusted to Lord George Robertson, former defense secretary and NATO's 10th Secretary General (1999-2003). At the same time, the main conclusion of the Strategic Defence Review is already known, because the new British government has already called its armed forces ‘hollowed out’, writes the UK Defence Journal.
On the part of Defense Express, we note that the conclusion is more than expected, because the British Armed Forces themselves have already joked that as a result of saving on defense, the British Armed Forces has more cavalry than tanks.
Moreover, despite the country's traditionally strong naval position, the Royal Navy now has only a dozen and a half destroyers and frigates, although at the end of the Cold War there were more than fifty of them.
It is worth adding that the Strategic Defence Review for Great Britain is a rather important document, which is usually updated only once or twice a decade. In particular, after the end of the Second World War, they were held 11 times: in 1957, 1965-1968, 1974-1975, 1981, 1990, 1994, 1998 (with an update in 2002), 2003-2004, 2010, 2015, 2021 (with an update in 2023).
That is, the document itself is really fundamental and serves to implement changes in defense capabilities. Which ones will be known exactly next year. But it should be noted that the new Defense Secretary, John Gealy, and the entire Labor party in general, criticized the previous Conservative government for reducing the British Armed Forces, which now numbers 72,510, the smallest figure since the Napoleonic Wars, as well as for the waste of money.
Thus, it is quite possible to expect a real increase in defense spending in the UK, revision of some defense programs as well as active investment in defense capability.
It is worth adding that John Gilley directly stated that if the russian federation wins in Ukraine, it will be a "green light" for other countries that want to expand by force and therefore it is impossible to allow it. He also called on Europe to step up and take on more responsibility in ensuring its own security against the backdrop of the US shifting its focus to the Indo-Pacific region. Although it is worth adding that Great Britain itself is quite closely related to it and is part of the AUKUS alliance with the USA and Australia.
Read more: The UK Defense Intelligence: russia’s New System to Stop Potential Recruits Fleeing
