New defence secretary wins another £1.5bn to boost drone spending
Dan Jarvis persuaded Rachel Reeves to reduce £18bn funding gap that led to predecessor resigning
TL;DR
- An extra £1.5 billion has been added to the UK's defense investment plan.
- The majority of the new funds will be spent on drones to deter Russia and Iran.
- The funding gap, initially £18 billion, has been reduced, resolving a dispute that led to the previous defence secretary's resignation.
- Spending on drones will increase from £4 billion to £5 billion over the next four years.
- Some of the additional funding was sourced by requiring other government departments to reduce their capital budgets by at least 1%.
- Royal Marine commandos will receive additional uncrewed speedboats for peacekeeping missions.
- The Royal Navy will build six 'hybrid' air defence frigates to replace Type 45 destroyers.
- The UK has committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2035.