Britain to invest 6.6 bln stg in military tech overhaul

Reuters · 03/16/2021 11:30
Britain to invest 6.6 bln stg in military tech overhaul

- Britain said it would spend 6.6 billion pounds ($9.1 billion)over the next four years on research and development to help drive a technology overhaul of its military capabilities.

Laying out its post-Brexit foreign policy priorities on Tuesday, Britain said it would invest the new funds into developing technologies in space, cyber, quantum technologies, engineering biology, directed weapons and advanced high-speed missiles.

Across the whole military, Britain also said in a review published on Tuesday that it plans to prioritise the integration of new technologies into its operations across land, sea, air and cyber.

This is likely to include new artificial intelligence capabilities in armoured vehicles, fighter jets and ships so that they can analyse and exploit data and connect to each other across the different domains and with different allies.

Technologies which will benefit "near-peer, high-tech warfighting" will also be part of Britain's plans.

The government will publish a defence command paper on Monday March 22 with further details, which will be keenly watched by companies such as Britain's biggest defence company BAE Systems BAES.L, as well as U.S.-headquartered Lockheed Martin LMT.N and defence technology company Qinetiq QQ.L.

($1 = 0.7222 pounds)


(Reporting by Sarah Young, editing by Andy Bruce)

((sarah.young@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 1109; Reuters Messaging: sarah.young.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))