UK boosts defense spending by £12bn to counter terrorism
Europe, News November 23, 2015 No Comments on UK boosts defense spending by £12bn to counter terrorismUK has announced a massive boost to Britain’s defense budget in the wake of the Paris attacks
British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced plans for an extra £12 billion (USD 18 bn) on military equipment over the next decade to strengthen defenses against ISIS.
The new defense plans include a 30 per cent increase in the counter-terrorism budget, £2bn on special forces and a new emphasis on cyber defenses. There will be more fighter jets, warships and armoured vehicles while 1,900 spies will be recruited in the fight against terror.
David Cameron also said two 5,000-strong “strike brigades” would be created and the extra spending also includes new F-35 jets and maritime patrol aircraft.
These details were revealed by the Prime Minister when he unveiled the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR).
Mr Cameron warns that with the rise of ISIS and tumult in the Middle East ‘the world is more dangerous and uncertain today than five years ago’.
“As the murders on the streets of Paris reminded us so starkly, Islamic State is not some remote problem thousands of miles away; it is a direct threat to our security,” the prime minister wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper Monday.
“I want the British people to know they have a government that understands the importance of our national security and that we will take whatever actions are necessary to keep our country safe.”
Speaking on a visit to RAF Northolt ahead of the publication of the Government’s Strategic Defense and Security Review, Mr Cameron said: “We have now got a stronger economy and we can choose, rightly, to invest more in our national security – more ships, more planes, a bigger navy, a bigger RAF, a better-equipped army, better in terms of fighting cyber attacks and fighting terrorism.
“Britain is the only major country anywhere in the world that both meets its Nato spending targets and meets its aid commitments.
“We are an engaged nation, not for reasons of national vanity but for reasons of clear-eyed self-interest. What goes on in the world matters to the United Kingdom and so we should be helping to shape it.
British government’s 2015 defense plan includes:
- £178bn to be spent on equipment in next decade
- £1.5bn efficiency savings expected from defense chiefs
- 2 new RAF Typhoon squadrons
- 2 new rapid reaction strike brigades of 5,000 troops by 2025
- 9 new Boeing P-8 maritime patrol planes
- £2bn more on special forces
- 1,900 more spies for MI5, MI6 and GCHQ
- 450 new sailors for the Royal Navy
- 42 F-35 stealth fighters bought by 2023
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