PARIS — The U.K.’s new government ordered a “root and branch review” of the armed forces, which Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as “hollowed out” and in need of strengthening.
Work on the review will start immediately “in recognition of the urgency of the threats” the U.K. faces, the government said on Tuesday, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, conflict in the Middle East and rising global threats. The review will solicit input from the armed forces, the defense industry, NATO allies and others through to the end of September, with the report due in the first half of 2025.
The U.K. Armed Forces face multiple capability shortfalls, according to a parliamentary defense committee report published in February. The country’s former chief of the general staff, Patrick Sanders, has repeatedly warned that defense cuts risk leaving the U.K. unprepared for war and lacking the capability to launch operations such as the 2003 invasion of southern Iraq.
“We need to be clear-eyed about the threats we face, with the world becoming more volatile and technology changing the nature of warfare,” Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement. “In response, our armed forces need to be better ready to fight, more integrated and more innovative. We need clearer accountability, faster delivery, less waste and better value for money.”
Former NATO secretary-general George Robertson will lead the review, together with foreign-affairs specialist and former U.S. presidential adviser Fiona Hill as well as former commander of the U.K.’s Joint Forces Command, retired Gen. Richard Barrons. The reviewers will consider the threat Britain faces, the capabilities required to meet them, as well as the state of the armed forces.
The U.K. and its allies face a “deadly quartet” of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea that is working together against the west, Robertson said in a briefing, according to media reports. He said the U.K. and NATO allies have to be prepared to confront all four if necessary.
Healey will oversee the review, while the reviewers will be supported by a team of high-level experts from inside and outside the government.
Budget pressures have taken a heavy toll on the British Army, threatening the U.K.’s ability to be a serious partner on NATO’s eastern border, Marion Messmer, senior research fellow in the International Security Programme at Chatham House, wrote in a July 10 note.
The Army is the least modernized of the U.K.’s services and faces an urgent need to invest in equipment, Nick Childs and Ben Barry at the International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a report on July 12. The funding squeeze for the British armed forces has also raised doubts about the Royal Navy’s shipbuilding plans, while identified capability gaps such as integrated missile defense will carry a “considerable price tag,” according to Childs and Barry.
“The underlying problem is that U.K. defense was hollowed out at a time when we actually needed to commence recapitalization,” said Nicholas Drummond, a U.K. defense industry analyst and consultant, in a post on the social network X. “The armed forces lack sufficient mass, lethality and resilience to fight a sustained conflict against a peer adversary.”
Drummond said the U.K.’s three services all have too few personnel: While the Navy has too few attack submarines and anti-submarine frigates, the Royal Air Force is short of aircraft and the Army lacks sufficient combat-support assets such as artillery and engineering units.
U.K. defense spending was £54.2 billion (U.S. $70.3 billion) in the 2023-24 financial year, and is expected to rise 4.5% to £57.1 billion in the 2024-25 year. The U.K. spent an estimated 2.3% of GDP on defense in 2023, and Starmer has confirmed government plans to raise spending to 2.5% of GDP, without providing a time frame.
U.K. Regular Forces personnel numbered 138,100 as of Jan. 1, down 3.8% from a year earlier and falling across all three services, according to quarterly data published in May. The headcount had dropped by more than 9,000 from three years earlier.
The review will seek to ensure the U.K. continues to lead in NATO, strengthen homeland security, modernize and maintain the nuclear deterrent and adapt military services and equipment programs to meet requirements, the government said. The review will also endeavor to bolster Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s aggression.
“Threats to our safety and security have multiplied and diversified in recent years, including greater conventional threats, cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns, requiring an in-depth look, conducted at pace, at how we can best meet those evolving threats,” the government said.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.
