£16.5 billion defence spending announcement sees RN steal limelight from RAF (updated)
The UK government has announced an extra £16.5 billion for defence spending over the next four years, with Royal Navy modernisation a key focus of new commitments.
Fighter jet and helicopter manufacturers have welcomed news that the UK MoD will receive an additional £16.5 billion ($21.8 billion) over the next four years, the largest British military spending increase in the last 30 years, but commitments made to the Royal Navy (RN) have overshadowed those for the Royal Air Force (RAF).
The new spending boost effectively ends months of speculation among defence analysts that departmental cuts would have to be made in order to prioritise healthcare funding in the wake of COVID-19, and follows a decade in which the UK defence budget has fallen by ‘£8 billion in
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