The UK prime minister said on Tuesday the country is putting its defense industry on “war footing” by increasing defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by the end of the decade, and pledged to send weapons worth 500 million pounds ($850 million) to Ukraine.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the increase as “the biggest strengthening of our national defense in a generation”.
“In a world that is the most dangerous since the end of the Cold War, we cannot be complacent,” Sunak said at a news conference alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a visit to Poland. We must do more to defend our country, our interests and our values.
Sunak pledged an extra 75 billion pounds ($128 billion) in defense spending over the next six years. The target of spending 2.5 per cent of GDP was a recommitment to a target set by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2022. Sunak previously said the target would be met when economic conditions allowed.
A decade ago, NATO leaders agreed to commit 2 percent of GDP to defense spending. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has given that effort new urgency. Britain has spent more than that over the past decade, but never exceeded 2.35 percent in 2020, according to NATO data.
“We will put the UK’s own defense industry on a war footing,” Sunak told British troops serving on Nato’s eastern front near Ukraine. “One of the central lessons of the war in Ukraine is that we need larger reserves of ammunition and for industry to be able to replenish them more quickly.”
Official UK figures show that defense spending last year was about £55.5bn. NATO data shows it accounts for around 2.07 per cent of UK GDP, ahead of countries such as France and Germany, but behind Poland, the United States, Estonia and others.
“It’s time for us to rearm,” Sunak said at a news conference alongside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, noting that Poland spends a higher percentage of its GDP on defense than any NATO ally.
Sunak said Britain would deploy its Typhoon fighter jets to Poland next year to help police its skies. Poland, which borders Ukraine, has suffered several incursions into its airspace since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Sunak also spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to confirm the new assistance to Ukraine and “assure him of the UK’s strong support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s brutal and expansionist ambitions”, Sunak’s office said.
UK authorities said the commitment included 400 vehicles, 60 ships, 1,600 ammunition and 4 million rounds, at a time when Ukraine is struggling to contain the advance of Russian forces on the eastern front line.
The shipment will include long-range British Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 240 kilometers and have proven effective in hitting Russian targets.
Zelenskyy has called for more international help and warned that his country will lose the war without it.
Britain’s announcement came three days after the US House of Representatives approved $61 billion in new aid for Ukraine. The Senate would vote on the package on Tuesday.
Ammunition shortages over the past six months have led Ukrainian military commanders to ration shells, a disadvantage that Russia has taken advantage of this year: it took the town of Avdiivka and is currently inching toward the town of Chasiv Yar, also in the eastern Donetsk region.
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Hui reported from London.