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The Defence Command Paper 2023 is a “refresh” of the United Kingdom’s 2021 Defence Command Paper, Defence in a Competitive Age, detailing how the United Kingdom will maintain a credible warfighting force.
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Among the recommendations include an additional £2.5 billion in funding to improve defence stockpiles, a UK global response force to ensure UK forces can “get there first” and continued R&D investment to ensure British qualitative overmatch.
The Defence Command Paper compiled lessons from Ukraine and was released following the Integrated Review Refresh released earlier in the year that identified an increasingly complex global system with Russia the primary threat to the UK’s security.
The paper lays out the UK’s ambition to become a “science and technology superpower”.
The UK Ministry of Defence hopes to achieve this with £6.6 billion in research and development funds, as well as a restructure of how the military conducts research.
Target fields include robotics, human augmentation, directed energy weapons, and advanced materials to provide the British military with a qualitative overmatch.
It also lays out frameworks to address workforce challenges, including a Strategic Reserve comprised of former ex-regular reserve forces. They are set to provide the UK with the ability to deliver surge capacity when required.
The refresh also includes a new incentivisation package that enhances fluidity between the military, civil service, and industry.
“We will therefore offer a ‘spectrum of service’ that will enable us to be better at retaining and surging talent across the whole force,” the DCP 2023 read.
“This will mean increasing fluidity between the military, the Civil Service and industry, as well as between full- and part-time employment, through transforming career structures and creating a continuum between regular and reserve service.
“To do this, we will progress towards a single Armed Forces’ Act to remove the structural barriers that limit our ability to maximise our talent across the whole force.”
Headlining the reforms is an enhancement of British high-readiness capabilities with the creation of the new Global Response Force.
“We will therefore create a Defence Global Response Force (GRF), bringing together our deployed and high-readiness forces, and drawing on capabilities from across Defence in all domains,” the DCP 2023 read.
“It will be optimised for rapid, global effect to respond to crisis, project force, and campaign constantly. As an all-domain task force, it will deliver flexible responses and strategic choice to deal with challenges that emerge anywhere in the world.”
The reforms aim at ensuring the UK can remain a military power.
“We must adapt and modernise to meet the threats we face, taking in the lessons from President Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Defence Sectary Ben Wallace said.
“This Defence Command Paper will sharpen our strategic approach – ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of military capability and a leading power in NATO.”
