Ukraine lessons run deep in U.K. defense spending plan
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Ukrainian troops and their U.K. instructors gather in the south of England in 2023. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images
The U.K. published, after some delay, its Defence Investment Plan. It's a thoroughly Ukrainian document.
The big picture: The Russia-Ukraine war — now in its fifth year, with casualties surpassing 1.5 million people — has radically changed how conflicts are thought through, stockpiled for and fought.
- Every country is taking notes.
- And reporters around the world are asking the same question of generals and admirals: What lessons have you learned?
Driving the news: Ukraine is name-dropped more than 30 times across the DIP's 81 pages, hitting everything from space connectivity to industrial strength to integrated air defenses to low-cost cruise missiles to procurement reform to civil resilience.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin's "aggression is growing around our shores, in the High North, across Europe and in Ukraine," the plan reads.
- British F-35s recently intercepted a Russian Bear-F that was flying over and dropping sonobuoys near the HMS Prince of Wales in the Norwegian Sea.
What's inside: The DIP is bankrolled by £298 billion (almost $400 billion) over four years, including more than £63 billion for the nuclear arsenal, £5 billion for autonomous systems, £2.5 billion for cyber and electronic warfare and £790 million for homeland air defenses.
Other, more granular items of interest include:
Kickstarting a Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, similar to the U.S. Air Force's robo-wingman effort spearheaded by Anduril Industries and General Atomics.
Committing £220 million to Project NYX, which seeks to build drones to fly alongside Boeing-made Apache attack helicopters.
Retiring early Wildcat battlefield reconnaissance helicopters.
Axing the Type 83 destroyer, set to replace Type 45, in favor of a hybrid fleet consisting of manned and unmanned vessels.
Upgrading and sustaining Eurofighter Typhoons to the tune of more than £1.1 billion.
Pivoting toward a next-generation of lower-cost cruise missiles and away from MBDA-made Storm Shadows, which trace back decades.
What they're saying: "There's a whole range — in all branches, frankly — of autonomous and counter-autonomous systems," a senior U.K. official told Axios.
- "That's definitely recognizing what we've seen happening in Ukraine," the official added.
- "We want to make sure that we're working with the Ukrainians, as we have been, to make sure that we're getting cutting-edge technology."
Zoom out: More than 50,000 Ukrainian personnel have been trained on British soil as part of Operation Interflex. London has also committed billions of pounds of security aid to Kyiv.
- Plus, a U.K.-Ukraine combo topped the Pentagon's first Drone Dominance challenge.
The bottom line: "Ukraine shows that we must rethink warfare: cheap, massed, precise systems now dominate," the DIP reads.
- "Speed is decisive."
