Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said it would be “foolish” to ignore the war strategies being played out in Ukraine
By Paul Adams & Sam Hancock
BBC News
The government’s Defence Command Paper is heavily influenced by lessons from Ukraine, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said.
The long-awaited paper, published on Tuesday, will set out how the UK will invest an additional £2.5bn in stockpiles.
Ukraine has “tragically become a battle lab” for new war technology, Mr Wallace told the BBC.
A further £400m will also be spent on improving personnel accommodation.
The Defence Command Paper, originally published in 2021, has been updated to reflect the last 18 months.
In that time, Western assistance helped Ukraine to fight back against the Russian invasion – giving leaders in the West a chance to see what works and what does not.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the document highlighted key objectives for the UK’s Armed Forces, including “prioritising investment in replenishment, modernising our forces and embodying a fully integrated approach to deterrence and defence”.
“New technologies are not gimmicks, they’re fundamentally key to how we fight a modern war,” Mr Wallace said.
He told the BBC the government would be “foolish” to ignore some of the strategies playing out on the battlefield in Ukraine – “to make sure that we can be match fit for any future conflict”.
One such lesson is the “power of electronic warfare”, Mr Wallace said, explaining: “The use of [electronic] warfare either to act as a decoy or to act as a defence is becoming really important, so it goes up the priority list.”
Putting that into context, the former soldier said: “At the end of the Second World War, 35% of the army was artillery. Now, it’s roughly 8%.”
“These are the lessons,” he added.
Mr Wallace played a key role in the UK’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
His Wyre and Preston North constituency in Lancashire will disappear at the next general election because of boundary changes and he has said he will not seek a new seat.
Speaking about the mark he hoped to leave on the MoD, Mr Wallace told the BBC that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had given his department a “massive £24bn legacy”.
“I’ve come in, and we’ve had a real term rise in our defence spending,” he said.
He also warned that the conflict in Ukraine served as a reminder that “there are bad people out there wanting to do bad things to Britain and her allies”.
Mr Wallace is believed to have told Mr Sunak last month of his plans to stand down from the Cabinet.
Sources have told the BBC they expect the next reshuffle in September, but no date has been confirmed.
