The minister says before the defense review that Britain should be “ready to fight”

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Defense Secretary John Heili said that Britain should “prepare for war”, but it admitted before publishing the government’s strategic defense review that he was struggling to stop a decrease in the size of the army.

On Sunday, Healy refused to say whether the Treasury was ensuring additional funding to take over the British spending on the defense to 3 percent of the gross domestic product in the next parliament, referring to the goal again as “ambitious.”

In a series of interviews before the publication of SDR on Monday, which will put plans and priorities for military spending for the coming years, Healy said Britain is facing multiple threats, adding: “We are preparing for war to secure peace.”

A report in the Sunday Times did not deny that Britain wanted to buy US -made combat aircraft capable of firing tactical nuclear weapons, to counter the increasing threat to Russia.

In response to a question about whether Britain is looking at different ways to launch nuclear weapons – regardless of its nuclear submarine deterrent – Healy said: “I will not go into discussions that should remain special.”

While Healy said that “no doubt” that Britain will increase public defense spending to 3 percent of GDP in the next parliament, he refused to say whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves supports the plan.

But he said that the goal was “ambitious”, rather than firm commitment. Britain will increase Defense spending To 2.5 percent by 2027 by reducing the external aid budget.

“I have no doubt that we will strike the ambition of the meeting by 3 percent in the upcoming parliament,” Healy told the BBC.

Prime Minister Sir Kerr Starmer launched a strategic defense review after moving from his post to help preparing the United Kingdom of what he described at that time as “a more dangerous and dwindling world.”

SDR is likely to set targets for the size of the army, which will be closely monitored to see if it exceeds the current target of 73,000 for 2025, was recently confirmed in 2023.

However, as of April, the army’s trained force fully fell to about 70,860.

When asked about his goal in the presence of 73,000 soldiers, Healy said his first job was to stop leaving people.

“There was a crisis of recruitment and a 15 -year retrospective in our forces,” he said. “We have narrowed this gap but we still have more people who leave more than joining. Our first job is the opposite of this trend.

“Then we want to see in the following parliament the ability to start increasing the numbers.”

He said: “The gathering of the threat to Britain and the West:” We are in a world that is now changing. We have to respond to a world of increasing threats.

“It is an increasing Russian aggression, it’s daily Internet attacks, they are new nuclear risks and increase tension in other parts of the world as well.”

Healy announced earlier that Britain would buy up to 7,000 long -term weapons from the United Kingdom and spend 1.5 billion pounds to build at least six new ammunition factories. “This is part of our willingness to fight if necessary,” he added.

SDR led former Secretary -General Lord George Robertson with the support of Russia’s adviser to the former House Fiona Heil and former Defense Chief Sir Richard Barons. They handed over the final repetition of their review in early March.