英国新防长拒绝承诺2030年国防开支达GDP 3%，BAE展示协同作战无人机概念验证机

Wes Streeting refuses to commit to 3% defence spending ambition
Britain’s new defence secretary Wes Streeting has refused to commit the UK to increasing military spending to 3 per cent of national income by 2030 but said he did not want the sector to operate on the cheap.
Streeting on Wednesday reiterated the UK’s commitment to raise military spending to 3.5 per cent of economic output by 2035, in line with Nato targets.
Pressed by reporters at the Farnborough air show as to whether he would back an ambition to raise defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2030, Streeting said it was “not for me to write the chancellor’s budget”, while adding that [the chancellor] was “very clear about where he stands on defence investment, as am I”.
John Healey, the new chancellor, resigned from his post as defence secretary from the previous government after warning that the current spending plan was not enough to keep the country safe. Defence spending is due to rise to 2.7 per cent of GDP by 2030 but Healey had argued that it should rise to 3 per cent by that time.
Asked whether he was “trying to do defence on the cheap”, Streeting said: “Absolutely not. I’m trying not to be on the wrong side of the chancellor on day two in office.
“The chancellor’s position is on the record. My calls for greater defence investment are also on the record.”
While he said he would not “write the chancellor’s next budget,” he added he would “put the best possible case for defence to the Treasury”.
Streeting said an “early priority” was to examine the case for UK participation in the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank financing scheme, and that he would work closely with the prime minister and the chancellor on making a decision. The previous government, together with Finland and the Netherlands, had championed a rival lender called the Multilateral Defence Mechanism.
Streeting added that the two financing initiatives could be “complementary to each other”.
The new defence minister said he had been chosen to lead the department because of his record in his role as health secretary as a “moderniser and a reformer”, something he said was needed in the Ministry of Defence.
He also stressed that any money needed to be spent wisely, suggesting he would hold industry to account for more investment. At a time when the country was investing more in defence, Streeting said the government needed to demonstrate that “we are spending existing resources wisely, we are improving our productivity, improving on procurement and demonstrating that we are not just using the proceeds of growth but we are generating them as well”.
Streeting also issued a broadside against Israel, accusing the country of having “fallen short” of British military standards in the prosecution of its war in Gaza.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 73,000 people in Gaza, according to health officials in the territory.
Streeting stressed he supported Israel’s right to defend itself, but said: “I also hold Israel as a friend and ally to the same standard that we hold ourselves to. That is the standard that should be applied to Israel. That is the standard that I feel they have fallen short of.”
Asked whether Britain should buy Israeli weapons, he said: “Those are not my decisions alone.”
His intervention came after Andy Burnham apologised earlier this month for Labour’s initial response to the war in Gaza and said he would seek to heap pressure on the Israeli government through further sanctions on groups and individuals, with a potential ban on trade in goods in illegal settlements.
Streeting was speaking after he unveiled a full-scale model of a British fighter drone developed by BAE Systems to fly alongside fighter aircraft, describing it as a “groundbreaking moment” for “UK defence, not just for air power, but for re-industrialisation”.
The UK, he said, would adopt the drone as its “operational concept demonstrator, and we’re going to get it in the air in 2027”.
The new jet, Brontanax, derived from the ancient Greek words for thunder and king, is about the size of a Hawk trainer aircraft. Defence chiefs said the lesson from the Ukraine conflict is that nations need to be able to control the skies to win battles.
BAE has developed Brontanax alongside the Royal Air Force and already has a fully assembled aircraft at its Warton facility in north-west England. It could enter service by 2030, the company said.