Armed forces set to receive £160m boost as part of delayed Modernising Defence Programme

The Ministry of Defence is to ring-fence £160million from its budget to develop innovative military capabilities, the government will announce tomorrow.

The Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, will use a speech to Parliament on Tuesday to conclude the long-awaited Defence Review, known as the Modernising Defence Programme (MDP). 

In what is billed as a ‘final update’, the Defence Minister will announce plans for a new team of specialists to analyse and map future threats, as well as a new fund worth up to £160million to tackle them. 

There will also be a new series of programmes focused on harnessing cutting-edge technologies for a range of issues, such as tackling threats to submarines and using artificial intelligence. 

The Defence Secretary launched the MDP in January, stating it would not be “fiscally neutral”, a comment widely taken to mean he had secured additional funding for Defence. Since then, the MoD received a financial boost in the budget worth £1.8billion over two years to modernise key capability areas.

Gavin Williamson will tell the House of Commons: “We can be proud of what we have achieved since 2015. But we must also be vigilant. National security challenges have become more complex, intertwined and dangerous since 2015, faster than we anticipated. 

“Persistent, aggressive state competition now characterises the international security context.

“Our adversaries and competitors are accelerating the development of new capabilities and strategies. We must keep pace, and conceive of our joint force as consisting of five domains, air, land, sea, cyber and space, rather than the traditional three.”

The ring-fenced £160million will form a “Transformation Fund” for new innovative military capabilities. The Defence Secretary will say he hopes to make a further £340million available in the government-wide Comprehensive Spending Review, due in Spring 2019. 

The MoD will aim to improve the availability of a range of key Defence platforms such as major warships, attack submarines, helicopters and a range of surveillance platforms. Weapon stockpiles will also be increased. 

Whilst announcing no additional equipment for the armed forces, the statement will make clear that the widespread warnings throughout the year of military cuts were unfounded. It had been feared that the amphibious assault ships HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion were vulnerable, the loss of which would have called into question the existence of the Royal Marines. 

Speaking exclusively to the Telegraph, a Whitehall source said: “What is notable in this is that there have been no cuts to capabilities. The Defence Secretary is determined to make the case for additional funding in the CSR”.