Image source: topwar.ru
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, in an interview with parliamentarians, admitted that an increase in defense spending is extremely necessary, but at the moment active work is underway to revise the concept of national security of the country, presented by the former head of the British government Boris Johnson in 2021. In this regard, the bill has not yet been submitted to the British Parliament for final approval.
According to the Chancellor (Finance Minister), the government will continue to adhere to defense spending of at least 2% of GDP. At the same time, a government official pointed out the impossibility of bringing the military budget to the level of 3% of GDP by the end of this decade - plans so actively promoted by former Prime Minister Liz Truss.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace also expressed the opinion that military spending cuts are not expected, despite inflation in the country, which has reached a record 11%.
Dan Darling, one of the analysts of the European market of military products of the American analytical agency "Forcast International", believes that the newly elected Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is more skeptical about the idea of increasing the defense budget.
Also, according to the analyst, the country is expected to strengthen the Navy by adopting a new frigate (type 26) of the British Navy. In addition, the financing of air defense, long-range strike weapons, as well as the Skynet 6 project of the British space program, most likely, will not be cut.
As for the replenishment of the Royal Air Force of Great Britain with multifunctional F-35 fighter-bombers of American production up to 138 units, the Ministry of Defense of the country abandoned these plans.
By the way, the British army is in the process of its modernization, but the fate of the 23 billion pounds provided for these purposes for the next 10 years turned into trouble for it, since the plans of the defense department also include the adoption of another grandiose Ajax project for the production of armored combat vehicles. Wallace noted the need to complete this project as soon as possible, recognizing that the British army lags behind the armed forces of other states by about 15 years in a number of components.
