UK Strategic Defence Review: Making Britain Safer – Secure at Home, Strong Abroad ()

Key Chapter Title List

1. Prime Minister's Introduction
2. Foreword by the Secretary of State for Defence
3. Foreword by the Review Team
4. Introduction and Overview
5. The Imperative for Transformation
6. The Role of UK Defence
7. Transforming How the UK Fights
8. 1 The Integrated Force Model
9. 2 Innovation and Industry: A New Approach to Deterrence and Growth
10. 3 Integrated Defence: People, Training, and Education
11. Allies and Partners
12. Homeland Defence and Resilience: A Whole-of-Society Approach
13. The Integrated Force: A Force for 21st Century Warfare
14. 1 UK Nuclear Deterrent
15. 2 Maritime Domain
16. 3 Land Domain
17. 4 Air Domain
18. 5 Space Domain
19. 6 Cyber and Electromagnetic Domain
20. 7 Strategic Command

Document Introduction

This Strategic Defence Review is a comprehensive and thorough defence assessment initiated by the UK Government in July 2024 and led by an external review team. It aims to address the most severe and unpredictable security environment the UK has faced since the end of the Cold War. The report clearly states that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine represents a strategic inflection point, marking the return of interstate war to Europe, while rapid technological advancements are transforming the character of warfare at an unprecedented pace. In this context, the UK's traditional military advantages are being eroded, and its critical national infrastructure faces daily 'grey zone' attacks below the threshold of war. The report argues that UK defence suffers from hollowing out in terms of mass, readiness, and foundational capabilities, with mindsets and ways of working still rooted in peacetime, rendering it ill-prepared to effectively counter the threat of a high-intensity, protracted conflict with a peer military competitor.

To this end, the report outlines a vision for defence transformation up to 2035: to build the UK into a technology-enabled, leading defence power with an integrated force capable of deterring, fighting, and winning through continuous innovation at wartime speed. The three core pillars of this vision are: integration by design, driven by innovation, and backed by industry. The Integrated Force Model aims to break down inter-service barriers, integrating the design, planning, and delivery of nuclear, conventional, and special forces under the unified military authority of the Chief of the Defence Staff into a more lethal and agile fighting force, underpinned by a common digital backbone and shared data. The report emphasizes the need to learn from the war in Ukraine by reshaping the relationship between defence and industry into a new partnership, overhauling procurement processes to adopt emerging technologies—particularly artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and uncrewed platforms—at wartime speed, and leveraging defence spending as a new engine for UK economic growth.

The report establishes the fundamental principle of 'NATO First,' making strengthening the UK's contribution to NATO and Euro-Atlantic security the core of defence policy. However, it also stresses that 'NATO First' does not mean 'NATO Only,' and the UK must still uphold its interests and responsibilities in key regions such as the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East. The report also calls for a whole-of-society approach to enhance homeland defence and national resilience. Through legislation, government-private sector collaboration, and public engagement, it seeks to improve the protection of critical national infrastructure and prepare for mobilising reserve and industrial capacity in a crisis.

The review process extensively consulted over 1,700 individuals and organisations from within and outside government, held nearly 50 high-level expert challenge seminars, and incorporated a citizens' panel to provide a public perspective. The report puts forward 62 recommendations covering areas from nuclear deterrent modernization and capability building across all operational domains to constructing a digital target network, and reforming defence healthcare, infrastructure, and personnel policies. The UK Government has committed to accepting and implementing all these recommendations, planning to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and aiming for 3% in the next parliament, subject to economic and fiscal conditions. This assessment marks the beginning of a new era in UK defence strategy, aimed at rebuilding readiness, strengthening deterrence, and adapting to the realities of 21st-century warfare.