By Pat Carty.
The UK Strategic Defence Review (SDR) 2025 – a very wordy but comprehensive assessment of the United Kingdom’s defence policy, was published on June 2, 2025, by the Labour government, and just weeks ahead of a crucial NATO Summit in the Hague.
It was the first SDR since 2003 under Labour leadership and commissioned by Prime Minister the Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP. It proclaimed “that the UK will move to war-fighting readiness, by adopting a “NATO-first” posture”.
This SDR was led by former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson, alongside Doctor Fiona Hill and General Sir Richard Barrons. The aim is to address the evolving global security landscape to ensure the UK is “secure at home and strong abroad”.
In doing so, the UK will be prepared for a “new era of threat,” driven by rising tensions from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, and technological advancements in warfare. Plus utilise lessons learned from the war in Ukraine.
During the SDR process, 1,700 individuals, political parties, and organisations submitted over 8,000 responses, 200 companies provided written contributions, over 150 senior experts took part in the SDR and Challenge panels, and nearly 50 meetings took place between the Reviewers and senior military figures. Members of the general public also toured defence sites as part of a “Citizens’ Panel” to offer their views, which were then presented throughout the SDR.
In the SDR, Starmer announced the largest sustained increase in UK defence spending since the Cold War, as he was committed to spending 2.5% of GDP. He also said his ambition is to reach 3% by the next Parliament in 2027, subject to economic and fiscal conditions!
The SDR stated that the “UK’s Special Forces (SF) are the “tip of the spear” of the Armed Forces: integrated by design and able to reach strategically significant targets in the most challenging places, operating in all domains, both overtly and covertly”.
It confirmed defence must continue to enhance the SF, ensuring the UK sovereign choice maintains a strategic capability at the very highest level.
SDR 2025 said that due to the rapid and growing diversification of threats and demands, the UK SF will “deter through retaining first-mover advantage, outmanoeuvring peer adversaries in support of national objectives”. It will also continue to play a key role in protecting the UK and its vital interests across a large range of threats.
As far as protecting British citizens abroad, including hostage rescue and non-combatant evacuation in the most demanding of circumstances, as well as specialist military capabilities to support the police and civil authorities, the SDR will ensure SF are at the forefront. In doing this, it confirmed that defence assets will be maintained, equipped, and held at readiness, ensuring SF can always act decisively and at speed.
SDR 2025 stated the UK SF already represents a working model of an Integrated Force, thus leading the way in the innovation of new technologies and systems across all domains, it will also continue to deepen its integration with partners across Government, including the UK Intelligence Community, and with allies and industry.
The SDR2025 stated UK Special Operations, as a single Service-designated Special Operations Force (sS SOF), will provide additional choices and resilience. In addition, the expansion of forces and associated capabilities in the near term will improve the UK and NATO’s warfighting ability, exemplified by the UK’s contribution to, and framework for, NATO’s Special Operations Taskforce 2026. This will allow the UK to contribute meaningfully at NATO Level 1 with sS SOF (such as the Army Rangers), Level 2 with specialist capabilities (for example, 16 Air Assault Brigade and Commando Force), and Level 3 with exquisite sovereign support from UK SF. Therefore, ensuring its commitment to NATO and ensuring it will be a core driver of Defence activity under the “NATO First Approach”.
The SDR reconfirmed UK SF is the sole provider of highly specialist capabilities vital to national security, such as counter-terror and counter-chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear expertise.
So, in summary, the Defence Review will ensure in the future that UK Special Forces will, when and where needed, and as part of a Defence-wide effort, deliver crisis response, whether in the UK, the Euro-Atlantic, or beyond, and in doing so, will meet any significant threats facing the UK. To do this, it will:
1. Defend, protect, and enhance the resilience of the UK, its Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. To achieve this, it will have credible plans for defending UK home territory as part of NATO, rooted in improved national resilience.
2. Contribute daily to deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic, with a military optimised for warfighting to protect and defend NATO territory and Allied populations against attack, underpinned by the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
3. Shape the global security environment in favour of the UK’s interests
In achieving the above, it will ensure such deployments do not detract from SF being able to return at speed to the Euro-Atlantic – if needed.
The SDR also recommended that the Middle East and Indo-Pacific are the next priority regions after the Euro-Atlantic for Defence engagement. However, the growing links between Russia, China, Iran, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, complicate calculations.
As far as SF equipment is concerned. As expected, little to nothing was said. However, the SDR did say that the UK would be accelerating the use of autonomous systems across the armed forces, and up to £1bn will be available by 2027, for the digital integration of the UK’s armed forces. It also stated the Royal Navy will deploy a “Type 26” anti-submarine warfare “Frigate Force”, equipped with mission bays. These bays will occupy the full width of a ship and can be rapidly reconfigured for alternative missions. Including amphibious platforms for SF operations and in doing so, provide flexibility in terms of a ship’s role and task.
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Author: Pat Carty is a NATO accredited journalist who covers military news, events, operations, and exercises; including special operations forces. He is a contributor to SOF News as well as several other military defense publications.
Fig 1: Prime Minister the Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP announces SDR 2025. (GOV.UK)