ISLAMABAD: The UK said it would create a defence innovation unit to help promote and acquire best-in-class military technology, as the British government prepares to ramp up defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027.
Cutting-edge tech
According to a report published by Bloomberg, the unit will “harness the ingenuity of the UK’s leading tech and manufacturing sectors” to rapidly scale up innovative prototypes, the Treasury said in an e-mailed statement on Friday, without detailing the composition of the body. The unit “will help equip Britain’s armed forces with cutting-edge tech and grow high-tech British businesses in the defence tech ecosystem,” the statement said.
A press release issued by the British government a week ago stated: as set out in the Plan for Change, national security is the first duty of the government. In recent years, the world has been reshaped by global instability, including Russian aggression in Ukraine, increasing threats from malign actors, rapid technological change, and the accelerating impacts of climate change.
Generational response
“The prime minister has today set out how the UK will be stepping up to meet this generational challenge with a generational response,” it said.
The announcement comes the day after the third anniversary of Russia’s barbaric illegal war in Ukraine and shows that the UK will step up and meet this pivotal moment of global instability head-on, with a commitment that will see the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War.
The prime minister knows that the working people of Britain have paid the cost of malign actors abroad, whether through increased energy bills, or threats to British interests and values. He is committed to making the country safer, more secure, and increasingly resilient against these interconnected threats, the press release stated.
