Nuclear costs crowd out key defence priorities in UK investment plan, say SDR authors
There is limited new money for air defence but there is improved capability through upgrades to Eurofighter Typhoons. (Photo: UK MoD/Crown Copyright)
The UK government’s Defence Investment Plan has been criticised by the authors of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) 2025 which formed the basis of the plan. The SDR’s external reviewers told the country’s defence committee how the plan misses the mark.
The UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) released in June 2025 was envisioned as a 10-year plan to be backed up by a Defence Investment Plan (DIP) outlining spending, which had been planned for release a few months following the review.
In reality, the DIP didn’t appear until late June this year and has already been criticised not just for holes in equipment purchases but also the slow speed of planned procurement; issues which have been highlighted again by the SDR’s authors on 7 July.
Many of the broad points of the SDR, such as an emphasis
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