JAKARTA - Britain plans to increase the number of its nuclear-powered attack submarine fleet, the government announced ahead of a defense review that is expected to say the country must invest billions of dollars to be ready and equipped to fight in modern warfare.
Monday's Strategic Defense Review will call for Britain's armed forces to turn to "war preparedness" conditions, outlining which changes to security threats and defense technologies are needed to fight them.
"We know that threats are rising and we must act decisively to confront Russian aggression," Defense Minister John Healey said in a statement.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, like other leaders across Europe, is competing to rebuild his country's defense capabilities after US President Donald Trump said the Blue Continent needed to take more responsibility for its own security.
The UK plans to build up to 12 next-generation attack submarines, nuclear-powered but carrying conventional non-nuclear weapons, to replace the current fleet of seven from the end of the 2030s, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Britain operates a separate submarine fleet armed with nuclear weapons.
The government for the first time said an existing program to develop a new nuclear warhead to replace the model used by the fleet would cost 15 billion.
"With the new state-of-the-art submarine patrolling international waters and our own nuclear warhead program on the UK coast, we make Britain safe domestically and robust overseas," said Defense Minister Healey.
The new submarine will be a jointly developed model by Britain, the US and Australia under a security partnership known as AUKUS.
Given President Trump's decision to end Europe's decades of strategic dependence on the US, PM Starmer has committed to increasing Britain's defense budget in a bid to reverse the long-term decline in its military capabilities.
He has pledged to increase the defense budget by 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027 and is targeting a 3 percent level in the long term.
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On Sunday, he warned Britain should be ready to fight and win the war against countries with advanced military forces.
In the days leading up to the Strategic Defense Review, which Starmer ordered shortly after taking office last July, the government has announced plans to spend billions of dollars on ammunition factories, battlefield technology and military housing.
Handling very tense public finances, a slow-growing economy and declining popularity among increasingly dissatisfied voters, PM Starmer has sought to increase spending on defense as a way to create jobs and wealth.
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