FEATURED COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS

Britain May Cut Defense Spending Below NATO 2% Target

New Atlanticist
Sep 19, 2025

Three things to note in the UK’s new Defence Industrial Strategy

By
Deborah Cheverton

“Defence is an Engine for Growth,” according to an important new British military strategy published on September 8.

Defense Industry
Defense Policy

Britain May Cut Defense Spending Below NATO 2% Target

New Atlanticist
Jul 17, 2025

Macron and Starmer have a plan to reset Anglo-French relations. What’s in this ‘Entente Industrielle’?

By
Philippe Dickinson

The French president’s three-day trip to the United Kingdom saw several notable and welcome announcements. But the real test will be what comes next.

Defense Industry
France

Britain May Cut Defense Spending Below NATO 2% Target

New Atlanticist
Jun 4, 2025

The UK Strategic Defence Review lays out an ambitious roadmap for reform. Will the government deliver?

By
AM Sir Christopher Harper, KBE, RAF (Ret.)

The review is a positive step toward revitalizing the United Kingdom’s defense posture, but its success will depend on funding and follow-through.

Conflict
Defense Industry

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Content

British soldiers in Afghanistan, Aug. 12, 2014

NATOSource

Jan 5, 2015

Britain May Cut Defense Spending Below NATO 2% Target

By Rosa Prince, Telegraph

A future Conservative government could cut spending on the Armed Forces to below two per cent of the country’s budget, David Cameron has admitted.

NATO
Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Dec 18, 2014

Devolving the Excesses of Jointness

By James Hasik

  Should the US follow the UK’s lead by seeking smaller scale in defense? On Wednesday afternoon the Atlantic Council hosted a talk by Philip Dunne, the British Minister for Defence Equipment, Support, and Technology—the MinDEST. As he himself noted, Dunne is Whitehall’s equivalent of the Pentagon’s Frank Kendall, the Under Secretary of Defense for […]

United Kingdom

Event Recap

Dec 17, 2014

Britain’s Choice: In or Out? A Conversation with Hugo Dixon

By Atlantic Council

On Tuesday, December 16, 2014, the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Relations Program hosted Reuters editor-at-large Hugo Dixon for a discussion of the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European Union. The talk, entitled “Britain’s Choice: In or Out?” and moderated by Transatlantic Relations director Fran Burwell, examined domestic and international considerations surrounding a potential referendum in the […]

Europe & Eurasia
European Union
Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft, July 18, 2009

NATOSource

Dec 9, 2014

Britain Forced to Ask NATO to Help Track ‘Russian Submarine’ in Scottish Waters

By Ben Farmer, Telegraph

Britain called in Nato sea patrol planes to hunt for a suspected Russian submarine off Scotland last month, after the Government scrapped its own similar aircraft in defence cuts, it has been disclosed.

France
NATO
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at foreign ministers meeting, December 2, 2014

NATOSource

Dec 2, 2014

NATO Struggles to Muster ‘Spearhead Force’ to Counter Russia

By Stephen Fidler, Wall Street Journal

Promised Rapid-Reaction Force Proves Costly, Logistically Difficult for Europe.

NATO
Russia
500 British armored vehicles are participating in exercise Black Eagle

NATOSource

Nov 24, 2014

UK’s Show Of Force Against Russian Aggression

By SKY News and BBC

From SKY News:  More than 1,000 British troops and 500 armoured vehicles have been taking part in a military exercise in Poland, in a display of force not been seen since the Cold War.

Poland
Russia
Brandenburg Gate

NATOSource

Nov 13, 2014

Time for Germans to Earn the Gift of 1989

By Constanze Stelzenmüller, Brookings

At this watershed moment, Germany, dubbed the “reluctant hegemon” not so long ago, finds itself the pivotal player in Europe.

Europe & Eurasia
France
8 northern European nations decide to strengthen defense cooperation

NATOSource

Nov 13, 2014

Northern European Nations to Boost Military Cooperation Against Russia

By Alister Doyle, Reuters

Eight northern European nations agreed on Thursday to step up cooperation to counter an increase in Moscow’s military activity that has included a tripling of NATO intercepts of Russian jets this year.

Northern Europe
Russia
Russian jets over Victory Day Parade, May 9, 2010

NATOSource

Oct 29, 2014

NATO Intercepted 19 Russian Military Aircraft Today

By Allied Command Operations

NATO detected and monitored four groups of Russian military aircraft conducting significant military manoeuvers in European airspace over the Baltic Sea, North Sea/Atlantic Ocean, and Black Sea on 28 and 29 October 2014.

Germany
NATO
US troops participating in Combined Resolve exercise, Oct. 25, 2014

NATOSource

Oct 27, 2014

Has Russia’s War on Ukraine Changed European Defense Budgets?

By Christopher P. Cavas, Defense News

Russia’s heightened aggressiveness has been on display for most of the year, notably in Crimea and Ukraine. But President Vladimir Putin’s military forces have been more antagonistic elsewhere,

France
Germany
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