Starmer pledges to make Britain 'battle-ready' with drones and AI

Britain will spend an extra £2bn on drones and seek to introduce weapons and tactics developed during the war in Ukraine under a strategic defence review revealed by the government yesterday.

- Dan Sabbagh Kiran Stacey Peter Walker

The plan will prioritise cheap one-way attack craft and more expensive reusable systems, as well as the creation of a drone centre to share knowledge and better coordinate across the armed forces.

John Healey, the defence secretary, told MPs the army would become "ten times more lethal" by combining technologies such as drones and artificial intelligence "with the heavy metal of tanks and artillery".

It was part of a wider commitment to make the UK "battle-ready" in the words of the prime minister. Keir Starmer argued on a visit to BAE Systems shipyard at Govan in Glasgow that defence had to come above other public services.

Drones have transformed the battlefield in Ukraine, with Moscow and Kyiv's forces now making heavy use of attack and surveillance drones miles beyond the frontline, causing an estimated 70% of casualties.

On Sunday, Ukraine launched coordinated attacks from remotely piloted drones hidden inside trucks aimed at airfields deep inside Russia. Kyiv claimed it had destroyed or damaged 41 Russian aircraft in the innovative long-range attack.

The review said drones were "an essential component of land warfare" now and the army needed to invest in a mix of attack drones, surveillance craft and counter-drone technology.