Last week the government published the Integrated Review, which outlines how the UK will protect our interests and promote our values for the next decade. With the direction set, this week the Defence Command Paper has set out what this means for our Armed Forces and the Defence & Security Industrial Strategy provides aligned clarity for the defence industry.

As a former Defence Minister, I participated in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, so I am well aware of the huge amount of work that goes into producing such a plan - it is an extensive body of work, evolved over many months, with input from many serving military personnel, grounded in horizon scanning of the threats we face today and assessments of how those will evolve in future. 

Given competing demands, any Review will not satisfy everyone. But the increase in defence spending of £16.5 billion above that previously committed is without doubt a very significant and welcome increase in commitment to the Armed Forces. Much of this is focussed on innovation and investing in technology to modernise our capabilities.

I share the concerns of observers about the loss of mass in the Army, with target numbers reducing by 10,000, which in practice means trained strength due to decline by natural retirement from 76,500 today to 72,500 over four years. But as the Defence Secretary – a former infantry officer himself – outlined, capability is the crucial measure of a credible force. It is no use having mass with outmatched weapons and capabilities.

I was also disappointed to see the Warrior tracked vehicle upgrade being scrapped, but this programme has had ten years in development and is still not ready for production. In more positive news, Telford will become the base for Challenger 3 tank upgrade and Boxer armoured vehicle assembly.

Today, we must be able to counter threats that act below the traditional threshold of war, including using proxies, cyber attacks and new technology, as well as providing capability to support humanitarian projects, conflict prevention, or UN peacekeeping.

To enable this, Defence will invest in impressive new capabilities. The National Cyber Force will be boosted, as will investment in new autonomous capabilities across the Services. This includes replacing mine hunting vessels with new automated mine hunting systems, investing in drone capabilities, including combat drone swarm technologies in air and on land. There will also be significant investment in space, with its invaluable civilian applications as well, with projects like the UK built Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance satellite constellation.

There is much to welcome, but it will be important to follow through with these plans. Defence needs to stem the perennial issue of promising capability, and not delivering on time or to budget.