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4.0 The 'One Defence' Approach: Reforming People, Culture, and Training

4.1 The Human Component of Transformation

The SDR firmly establishes that the success of its strategic vision is fundamentally dependent on its people. The review directly confronts a long-standing workforce crisis, aiming to empower military and civilian personnel by reforming culture, training, and workforce planning under a unified "One Defence" mindset. This approach seeks to reverse years of declining recruitment and retention and build a workforce that is agile, skilled, and motivated to deliver on the review's ambitions.

4.2 Whole Force Workforce Planning

The review outlines a "whole force" approach to workforce planning, blending Regulars, Reserves, and civil servants to create a more dynamic organisation. Specific targets include:

• Regulars: No further reduction in the number of highly trained Regulars, with an envisioned increase in the total number of personnel when funding allows. This includes a small uplift in Army Regulars as a priority.

• Active Reserves: An increase in the number of Active Reserves by 20% when funding allows, most likely in the 2030s, to restore mass and strategic depth.

• Civil Service: A reshaping of the civilian workforce with an emphasis on performance and skills, aiming to reduce costs by at least 10% by 2030.

4.3 Reforming Recruitment, Retention, and Culture

To fix the recruitment and retention crisis, the SDR proposes targeted reforms aimed at modernizing the offer to service personnel. The primary focus is on speed and flexibility, learning from international models such as Australia's military "gap years" to drastically shorten the time between application and entry. For retention, a planned "flexible working" initiative will enable military personnel to dial their commitment up and down throughout their careers. Critically, the review also mandates a cultural shift to empower personnel by cutting bureaucracy and eradicating unacceptable behaviour.

4.4 An Adaptive Training System

The Defence training and education system will be redesigned to deliver innovation at speed and ensure personnel train how they will fight. The guiding principles for this transformation are:

• Whole Force by Default: Where possible, training will be delivered for the entire "One Defence" workforce—Regulars, Reserves, and civilians—to foster a shared culture.

• NATO First: The Alliance's exercise programmes, doctrine, and planning processes will form the basis for UK training and education.

• Adapting at Pace: The system will be re-engineered to rapidly apply innovations and lessons from operations to doctrine and concepts, reversing a trend of risk aversion in training.

The internal transformation of the force is inextricably linked to its external role in strengthening national resilience and its reliance on a global network of allies.

5.0 Foundational Strength: Home Defence and Allied Integration

5.1 Building National Resilience

The SDR asserts that modern deterrence is no longer the exclusive domain of the armed forces but requires a "whole-of-society" approach to be credible. Consequently, the review places a renewed and urgent emphasis on home defence, national resilience, and the critical role of alliances in creating the strategic depth necessary to withstand and deter aggression in a more dangerous world.

5.2 A Whole-of-Society Approach

To reconnect Defence with the society it serves, the review recommends several tangible initiatives designed to raise public awareness and foster a shared sense of responsibility for national security. Key actions include:

• Expanding the Cadet Forces by 30% by 2030, with an ambition to reach 250,000 members in the longer term.

• Working directly with the Department for Education to develop a better understanding of the Armed Forces among young people in schools.

5.3 Protecting Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

The SDR proposes a "new deal" for the protection of the UK's Critical National Infrastructure, which is increasingly vulnerable to state-backed attack and sabotage. To support this effort, the Royal Navy will assume a new leading and coordinating role in securing the UK's vital undersea pipelines, data cables, and maritime traffic.

5.4 Strengthening Alliances and Partnerships

Bolstering collective security through a prioritized network of alliances is central to the SDR's strategy. The relationship with the United States remains the UK's closest and most critical defence partnership. In Europe, bilateral agreements with key NATO Allies—notably France, Germany, and Poland—are prioritized as powerful tools for strengthening Euro-Atlantic stability. The review also highlights the strategic importance of capability partnerships like AUKUS (with the US and Australia) and the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) (with Italy and Japan) as exemplars of industrial and technological collaboration.

This strategic framework, which re-establishes the foundations of national and collective security, provides the necessary context for examining the specific military capabilities the future Integrated Force will wield.

6.0 The Integrated Force in Detail: A Domain-by-Domain Capability Overview

6.1 A Force Fit for the 21st Century

This section details the specific capabilities required to field a transformed Integrated Force fit for the challenges of the modern era. The review's recommendations are guided by a focus on a "high-low" mix of equipment, a decisive pivot towards autonomy and Artificial Intelligence, and the urgent need to restore warfighting readiness across all five operational domains. This conventional transformation is underwritten by the UK's steadfast commitment to maintaining a credible, independent nuclear deterrent.

6.2 The Nuclear Deterrent

The UK's independent nuclear deterrent is reaffirmed as the "bedrock" of national defence and a "National Endeavour" providing the ultimate guarantee of UK and Allied security. Key investment priorities to ensure its long-term credibility include the new fleet of Dreadnought class submarines, the replacement sovereign warhead (program ASTRAEA), and the next-generation nuclear-powered attack submarines developed through the SSN-AUKUS partnership.

6.3 Maritime Domain

The Royal Navy will be transformed into a "New Hybrid Navy," blending traditional crewed platforms with a growing proportion of autonomous systems. This includes the development of hybrid carrier airwings, which will combine crewed F-35 fighter jets with autonomous collaborative platforms. To secure vital sea lanes, the Navy will implement its "Atlantic Bastion" plan, a multi-domain approach to secure the North Atlantic for the UK and NATO.

6.4 Land Domain

The British Army will be modernized through a new "Recce-Strike" model that combines armoured capability with AI, long-range weapons, and land drone swarms. This model aims to deliver a ten-fold increase in lethality, measured against a conventional armoured brigade model, to find and strike enemy forces with unprecedented speed and precision. The Army is committed to providing a fully modernized Strategic Reserve Corps to NATO.

6.5 Air Domain

A "next-generation RAF" will be created, centered on a mix of advanced crewed and uncrewed aircraft. Key components of this future force include F-35 fifth-generation fighters, upgraded Typhoon jets, the Future Combat Air System being developed through the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), and the integration of autonomous collaborative platforms to generate mass.

6.6 Space and Cyber & Electromagnetic (CyberEM) Domains

The review recognizes the heightened importance of space and cyberspace as critical warfighting domains. Investment will be directed toward creating resilient military space systems to ensure assured access to satellite capabilities. To bring greater coherence to the digital battlefield, a new CyberEM Command will be established by the end of 2025, responsible for integrating military action across cyberspace and the electromagnetic spectrum.

Ultimately, the 2025 SDR presents a comprehensive and technologically ambitious blueprint for transformation; its success, however, will be defined not by the vision itself, but by the political will and fiscal discipline required to reverse decades of strategic drift and deliver this generational response at the 'wartime pace' it demands.