Image: UK MoD Crown Copyright
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set to convene around a dozen European partners at the NATO Summit in Ankara today, launching a UK-led initiative to fund Deep Precision Strike capabilities across the continent. Twelve countries will commit more than $50bn (£37bn) over the next decade, as per a recent press statement.
The programme aims to deliver NATO’s most advanced long-range weapons, capable of striking targets between 300km and over 2000km away with pinpoint accuracy. Allies intend to share expertise, technology and industrial capacity to accelerate development across the Alliance.
The UK has already committed £3bn by 2030 under its Defence Investment Plan. This includes £770m for a joint stealth and hypersonic weapons programme with Germany under the Trinity House agreement, and £1.4bn for Stratus, a trilateral successor to the Storm Shadow missile developed with France and Italy. Stratus already sustains more than 1,300 jobs at MBDA sites in Stevenage and Bolton. Britain is also joining the US-Australia Precision Strike Missile programme, arming the British Army with a supersonic ballistic missile.
Prime Minister Starmer commented: “I am determined to ensure the safety of the UK and our Allies and to do that, we must step up to deliver a stronger, more European NATO.”
Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis added: “We are building the weapons of the future to keep the UK and NATO secure for decades to come, backed by billions of pounds and working with our closest European allies.”
The initiative follows a sharp rise in Russian military activity, with NATO scrambling jets over 700 times in two years and Russian activity around UK waters up 30%. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the move sends “a clear message” to Moscow that NATO stands ready to defend its members.
Read more on the UK MoD website
