Breaking news
The British Defence budget will increase by nearly £5bn to £39.7bn in 2020 - 2021 10204161.
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Defence & Security News - United Kingdom
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| The British Defence budget will increase by nearly £5bn to £39.7bn in 2020 - 2021. | |||
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In last summer’s Budget the British government committed to increase defence spending by 0.5% above inflation every year until 2021 and continue to meet NATO’s target to spend 2% of GDP on defence for the rest of the decade.
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 March 2016 sees the movement of more than 1,800 personnel and 1,200 vehicles, including Challenger 2 main battle tanks, on Salisbury Plain Training Area in Wiltshire. (Source British MOD) |
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1 April 2016 marks the first day that these commitments come into effect with the core defence budget increasing by £800m from the 2015/16 baseline of £34.3bn to £35.1bn. In addition, the MOD will receive £2.1bn from the Joint Security Fund by the end of this Parliament. This means the Defence budget will increase by nearly £5bn to £39.7bn in 2020/21.
The UK has the 2nd largest budget in NATO, the largest in the EU, and the fifth largest in the world. It is one of only five countries that meets the NATO guideline to spend 2% of GDP on Defence. "With the start of a new financial year, we mark a major milestone for Defence with our budget increasing for the first time in six years in real terms.", said Defence Secretary Michael Fallon. "First, we’re kitting out an expeditionary force of 50,000, buying F35s more quickly, new armoured vehicles, two new aircraft carriers – the most powerful ever and built in Britain – as well better equipment for Special Forces and more on cyber.", he added. The increased budget will allow the Britsih MOD to invest in stronger defence with more ships, more planes, more troops at readiness, better equipment for Special Forces, and more for cyber. British MOD will protect the size of the Armed Forces, not reduce the Army to below 82, 000, and increase the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force by 700 personnel. By 2025 we will have a highly capable expeditionary force of around 50,000 (up from around 30,000 planned in Future Force 2020). The British MOD investments include: - Maintain the plan to buy 138 F35s over the life of the programme. *An extra £2bn on our Special Forces’ equipment. - 9 Boeing P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft. - Advanced High Altitude surveillance aircraft. - More than 20 Protector armed remotely piloted aircraft - Type 26 Global Combat Ships. Concept study and then design and build a new class of lighter, flexible general purpose frigates - 2 new Offshore Patrol Vessels. - 3 new logistic ships. The Armed Forces will also become more, efficient and effective which means we will: - Establish 2 additional Typhoon squadrons and an additional F35 squadron. - Have a full Army division (made up of three brigades) optimised for high-intensity combat operations - Create 2 new Strike Brigades *Double (from 1 to 2) the number of Brigades ready to deploy on operations. - Reducing the number of civilians in the MOD by almost 30% over the next five years. |
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