Frank Gardner: Key points from government's defence spending plan

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Frank Gardner: Key points from government's defence spending planImage source, Ministry of DefenceImage caption, A Protector RG Mk1, a next generation remotely piloted aircraft used by the RAFByFrank GardnerSecurity correspondentPublished16 minutes agoThe government has published its long-delayed defence investment plan (DIP) that outlines how much money it will spend on the UK's armed forces. An additional £15bn will go on defence - a total of £270bn over the next four years - and will include spending on the nuclear deterrent and new combat aircraft. But the extra money is less than the £28bn reportedly sought by defence chiefs, and both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have criticised the plan as underfunded.

Here are the key points included in the 81-page plan, and what they may mean. Largest increase in defence spending since the Cold War, government saysThe government has raised defence spending from £54bn per year when it took office in 2024, to £80bn by 2029 - a real-term increase of 27%,Ministers say that is the largest increase since the Cold War in the 1980s. Since John Healey resigned as defence secretary on 11 June over what he considered insufficient funding in the plan, his successor Dan Jarvis has secured a further £1.

The Details

But this takes the total additional funds awarded to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to £15bn, while the gap between what's needed and what's actually funded reportedly stands at £28bn. £270bn earmarked over the next four yearsBut is it enough? This represents just 2.

7% of GDP by 2030, well short of the 3% mandated by Nato. The US already spends 3. 7%, while Russia, which has put its economy onto a war footing, spends more than 7.

Seismic shift to smaller, cheaper, uncrewed and autonomous systemsIn a speech earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described it as a "huge, historic shift for our nation". It is certainly a dramatic transformation away from expensive big-ticket items like destroyers, towards large numbers of much cheaper and more expendable weapons. Jarvis has spent the last few weeks getting his team at the MoD to 'refocus' the DIP plan to incorporate the lessons learnt from wars in Ukraine and the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East.

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£63bn for nuclear deterrentMoney is being earmarked for the UK's continuous-at-sea nuclear deterrent, and the warheads and infrastructure that supports it. The plan includes buying F35A combat aircraft modified to carry relatively small nuclear bombs to allow Britain to play a part in Nato's European Nuclear Plan. But these aircraft will not be delivered during this decade.

Russia already possesses large numbers of smaller, tactical nuclear weapons while Britain has none. £11bn to replenish weapons and munitions sent to UkraineBritain has sent huge volumes of defence equipment to Ukraine, some of which has been instrumental in holding back the Russian advance, such as the NLAW anti-tank weapons.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.