Morning View: A needed defence shift towards drone technology

​​There has been an important development in defence that reflects new understanding of global risks.

Plans for a new destroyer to replace Britain’s ageing warships have been scrapped as part of changes to the defence investment plan aimed at prioritising drones and modernising the military.

The Royal Navy will instead procure at least six ‘common combat vessels’ (CCVs), which will act as hubs for uncrewed systems, with delivery expected in the 2030s.

The prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is expected to unveil the blueprint for the UK’s armed forces this week as part of his legacy before leaving Downing Street.

As well as the new vessels, to expand the Navy’s reach and firepower, underwater drones and sensor platforms will also feature amid rising Russian submarine activity near critical undersea cables.

Note that Ireland’s refusal to spend on defence increases Russian threats around the British Isles yet Sir Keir struck a military understanding with Dublin without asking for money.

Earlier proposals to replace the Navy’s fleet of six Type 45 destroyers with a new class of guided-missile warship Type 83 destroyer is no longer appear in the plan.

This is in some respects a needed shift in priorities – there has been new evidence of the role of drones in helping smaller countries or groups attack larger ones.

This is evident in the Ukraine use of drones against Russia and drones sent from Lebanon against Israelis.

It is essential that the UK is able to combat such threats.

However, Britain needs both new drone technology and more ships too.

The only way to do that is to have a radical increase in the defence budget, funded by cutting back elsewhere, above all in the UK’s bloated welfare budget.

But Andy Burnham is talking as if we need more such government spending, which will mean further debt and worsened defence vulnerability.