UK commits to 3 percent GDP on defense by 2030, new investment partnerships with industry

WASHINGTON — The United Kingdom plans to reach 3 percent GDP spending on defense by 2030, Chancellor John Healey announced today as part of a broader budget announcement that also indicated a greater partnership with the defense industry to come.

In a speech today, Healey said that the UK’s recent Defence Investment Plan would be “fully” funded, indicating the money for defense would come from cuts to other priorities.

In addition, he said that next year’s spending review would spell out exactly how the UK plans to hit the NATO commitment of spending 3.5 percent GDP on defense by 2035, and how the UK will be at 3 percent by 2030.

That the news came from Healey added extra oomph for defense watchers.

Healey was defense secretary under previous Prime Minister Keir Starmer before publicly resigning over what Healey described as underfunding the military. That resignation triggered several others, which ultimately pushed Starmer to resign and be replaced by Burnham — who then brought Healey back as his main financial officer.

Other defense-related announcements in budget documents released with Healey’s speech today include:

• The standup of a new Innovative Defence Financing Taskforce to “maximise the contribution of private and international finance to UK defence;”
• The opening of discussions with Finland, Poland and the Netherlands to pool funding for “defence investment and joint procurement across NATO allies”;
• A plan for the “National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank to deploy up to £5 billion over the next four years into defence, dual-use and other sectors that support our national security, sovereign capability and resilience;”
• The creation of a Ministry of Defence-led “drone regulation unit” which will work across different agencies to cut” red tape and create clearer routes for testing uncrewed and autonomous systems,” which would seem to mirror some of the concerns about regulation authorities over UAVs in the United States.
• £10 billion ($13.3 billion) in additional funds for Ukraine.
• The government has a currently-unfunded plan for a 10-year, £2.5 billion program with Rolls-Royce to develop a next-gen gas turbine engine that would be dual-use. “This has not been contracted and funding is subject to award, negotiations and relevant legal processes,” per the documents.