Defence Chief Demands More Money for Weapons

Military vehicles including trucks and support vehicles, all belonging to the 7 Light Mechanised Brigade unit of the British Army, aka "The Desert Rats," at the Marchwood Military Sea Mounting Centre near Southampton, England, on Feb. 13, 2024. Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images

Britain’s deputy chief of defence staff has called for an urgent increase in funding for weapons, after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was reluctant to commit to a timeline for reaching a defence spending target of 2.5 percent of GDP.

Speaking during a hearing of the Commons Defence Committee on Monday, Mr. Sunak said: “We’ve said we will do that when the conditions allow, but it’s worth saying that defence spending is already on an upward trajectory and we’re already due to hit 2.3 percent of GDP on defence spending.

“What the last year or so shows is that we need to collectively up our game when it comes to defence industrial production. We’re making the investments, we’re signing the contracts and I think we can look forward to a very significant increase over the coming months and years.”

Later in the hearing, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps disclosed that he had made an unsuccessful attempt to secure additional funds from Mr. Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, but reiterated that the government was “committed to going to 2.5 percent.”

He added, “Of course, as secretary state for defence, I argued that we should do that as soon as possible.”

Munition Spending ‘Does Not Meet’ Threats Faced by UK

Deputy Chief of Defence Staff Lt. Gen. Sir Rob Magowan highlighted the insufficiency of current spending levels in addressing threats, saying: “We’ve been very clear that the amount of money we’re spending on munitions at the moment—which is significant—does not meet, in all areas, the threats that we face.

“We’ve been clear that we need to spend more money, above the programme of record, on what we call integrated air missile defence.”

He added: “We have made it clear, if we were given additional money, what we would spend money on but we work within the money we’ve got and we carry the operational risk accordingly.”

Sir Rob also implied that Britain could not stave off an attack from Russia, after Tory MP Mark Francois questioned him to determine if the UK could cling on for “more than a couple of months in a full-on shooting war” without running out of ammunition.

However, Mr. Shapps added context, saying: “For people watching and hearing that the UK isn’t ready for war exclusively with Russia, it’s important to understand that because we are in NATO and [mutual defence agreement] Article 5 exists, we would never be in that situation.”

Responding to Sir Rob’s calls for greater investment in technology, Mr. Shapps responded: “This is probably the first true drone war [in Ukraine] and I don’t think we will ever see a war again that doesn’t heavily involve drones.

“Drones belie the usual facts of war. Usually, every generation gets more expensive to have lethal effect, but actually drones, which sometimes cost a few thousand pounds, can be extremely lethal.”

Heappey: Urgently Increase Military Funding

Exiting Armed Forces minister James Heappey, a former army officer and veteran of the Afghanistan conflict, intensified the pressure on Mr. Sunak regarding defence spending in his resignation speech, delivered in the Commons on Monday.

He said: “We should urgently achieve 2.5 percent of GDP. The fiscal situation is improving, and the Conservative Party has made that commitment.”

Mr. Heappey’s resignation letter, delivered earlier this month, was in part, he claimed, driven by Mr. Sunak’s hesitancy to significantly increase military funding.

In his letter responding to the resignation, Mr. Sunak thanked Mr. Heappey for his “invaluable role in implementing the Government’s defence agenda.”

The prime minister added, “You have made an important contribution to Government and your support to consecutive Conservative administrations at the Ministry of Defence has been commendable.”