UK government readies launch of defence innovation unit after 2.5% spending pledge
The UK government is to launch a new defence innovation unit that is expected to foster the development of cutting-edge military technology.
The chancellor Rachel Reeves said that the UK would need to invest in “sophisticated, innovative kit”, to face a world that is “less certain than it has been for a generation”.
Defence secretary John Healey said that the unit would take “state-of-the-art technology from the drawing board to the production line” and into the hands of the British armed forces, elaborating on a statement from the government which said the new unit’s goal is to “simplify and streamline the innovation system within the UK Ministry of Defence”.
“[The unit] will take a new approach by moving quickly and decisively, using different ways of contracting, to enable UK companies to scale up innovative prototypes rapidly by setting out a clear pathway, working with the government, from initial production to manufacturing at scale,” it said.
The parameters of the unit were set at a joint roundtable hosted by Reeves, Healey and business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, along with leaders from 15 of the country’s top defence firms.
The government said that it would look to “enhance investment in defence start-ups and scale-up technology and capability”, partly with the aid of the National Security Strategic Investment Fund.
Ministers will be expected to work with the venture capital and investment community to leverage private investment in technologies for future national defence needs.
Global Government Forum’s Innovation 2025 conference takes place on 25 & 26 March in London, and brings together government leaders from across the globe for discussions on transformation in government. It will look at what innovation means for civil servants, as well as how to create space for experimentation in government. Find out more and register here.
Europe on the defensive
The creation of the unit coincides with fresh efforts by European governments to beef up their defence spending, reflecting the precarious state of NATO since the return to office of US president Donald Trump.
Within his first months in office, Trump reversed key US foreign policies, including pledges to send aid to war-torn Ukraine. European leaders have acknowledged countires must be better prepared militarily if they can no longer rely on US military support and NATO spend.
At the EU defence summit in Brussels earlier this month, the UK prime minister Keir Starmer outlined the government’s commitment to increase spending on defence to 2.5% of GDP from April 2027.
Leaders at the summit welcomed the European Commission’s proposals to allow fiscal flexibility on defence spending, and to borrow up to €150bn (US$160bn) to lend to EU governments to spend on their armed forces.
Donald Tusk, prime minister of Poland, described Europe as being in an “arms race” with Russia.
“Europe as a whole is truly capable of winning any military, financial, economic confrontation with Russia – we are simply stronger,” he said.
About Jack Aldane
Jack is a British journalist, cartoonist and podcaster. He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy, before living and working in China for three years as a freelance reporter. After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 to 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters before moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings. As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack continues to engage today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century. He joined Global Government Forum as its Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator in 2021.
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