Aim of the SDR is to protect UK in a new era of threats, says Defence Secretary
The Defence Secretary has said the Strategic Defence Review is a response to a "new era of threats" facing the UK.
John Healey said plans for investment were a response to a more aggressive Russia, emerging nuclear threats and the danger of cyber-attacks to the United Kingdom.
Speaking to MPs in the House of Commons, he said: "The world has changed, we must respond.
"The SDR is our plan for change for defence – a plan to meet the threats we face, the plan to step up on European security and lead in Nato.
"A plan that learns the lessons from Ukraine, a plan to seize the defence dividend from our record increase in defence investment to boost jobs and growth throughout the United Kingdom and a plan to put the men and women of our armed forces at the heart of our defence plans.
"Better pay, better kit, better housing through the SDR – we will make our Armed Forces stronger and the British people safer."
Mr Healey said this plan is a response to the emerging threats to the UK's security.
He said: "The threats we face are now more serious and less predictable than at any time since the end of the Cold War.
"We face war in Europe, growing Russian aggression, new nuclear risks and daily cyber-attacks at home.
"Our adversaries are working more in alliance with one another, while technology is changing the way war is fought.
"We are in a new era of threats which demands a new era for UK defence."
Mr Healey also set out plans for the Government to increase the amount spent on defence as well as reforms to how the money is invested.
"Since the general election, we have demonstrated that we are a government dedicated to delivering for defence, committing the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.
"£5 billion extra this year, 2.5% of GDP in 2027, the ambition to hit 3% in the next Parliament.
"There can be no investment without reform, and so we are already driving also the deepest reforms to defence in 50 years, and these will ensure clearer responsibilities, better delivery, stronger budget control, and new efficiencies worth £6bn in this Parliament.
"Money, all of which will be reinvested directly into defence.
"Our Armed Forces will always do what's needed to keep the nation safe 24/7 in more than 50 countries around the world, but in a more dangerous world, the SDR confirms that we must move to war-fighting readiness.
"We need stronger deterrents to avoid the huge costs, human and economic, that wars create
"We prevent wars by being strong enough to fight and win them, and that is what has made Nato the most successful defence alliance in history over the last 75 years."
Investment in new kit and technology across all three of the services was also outlined in his speech.
"We will establish a new hybrid navy by building dreadnought orcas submarines cutting edge warships and new autonomous vessels," he added.
"Our carriers will carry the first hybrid air wings in Europe, we will develop the next generation RAF with F-35s, upgraded Typhoons, 6 GCAP autonomous fighters to defend Britain's skies and to be able to strike anywhere in the world."
Plans to increase troop numbers in the Army are also a key pledge in this review.
Mr Healey said: "We will make the British Army 10 times more lethal by combining future technology of drone autonomy and AI with the heavy metal of tanks and artillery.
"For too long, our Army has been asked to do more with less.
"We inherited a long-run recruitment crisis. Fourteen Tory years of cuts to full-time troops reversing this decline will take time, but we are acting to stem the loss now and aiming to increase the British Army to at least 676,000 full-time soldiers in the next Parliament.
"For the first time in a generation, we are a government who want the number of regular soldiers to rise."
Mr Healey also gave details on investment in home missile, defence, the nuclear deterrent and munitions production.
"This is a government that will protect our island home, will do so by committing a billion pounds in new funding to homeland air and missile defences by creating a new cyber command to defend Britain in the grey zone and by preparing legislation to improve defence readiness," he told MPs.
"We will make defence an engine for growth and an engine for growth to create jobs and increase prosperity in every nation and every region of the UK.
"Take our nuclear enterprise, we will commit £15bn in investment into the sovereign warhead programme in this Parliament, supporting over 9,000 jobs.
"We want to establish continuous submarine production through investments in Barrow and in Derby that will allow us to produce a submarine every 18 months, allowing us to grow our nuclear attack submarine fleet to up to 12 submarines.
"We will invest £6bn in this Parliament, including for six new munitions factories and up to 7,000 new long-range weapons, supporting nearly 2,000 jobs.
"We will invest more than a billion pounds to integrate our Armed Forces through a new digital targeting web and we will finance a £400m UK defence innovation organisation."
Pay and conditions for those serving in the military are to be improved – including investment in forces accommodation.
"We've already ordered the biggest pay increase in over 20 years, an inflation-busting increase this year and now I've announced we will invest £7bn of funding this Parliament for military accommodation, including 1.5 billion of new money for rapid work to deal with the scandal of military family homes.
"This SDR is the first defence review in a generation for growth and for transformation in UK defence. It will end 14 years of hollowing out in our Armed Forces and instead we will see investment increase in the Navy, expansion of the Army, growing the Air Force."
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