Britain sets out a plan for future defense with a focus on drones and a fight over money

LONDON (AP) — Self-flying fighter jets, uncrewed submarines and drones will be at the center of Britain’s future military under a defense plan being announced Tuesday that reflects a world of conflicts transformed by technology.

The Defense Investment Plan has been repeatedly delayed as military leaders and Treasury officials wrangled over the cost of equipping the U.K. military for an increasingly dangerous world. Like other NATO countries, the U.K. is under pressure to increase defense spending to counter a more aggressive Russia and less reliable United States.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the plan will keep Britain safe in “a more dangerous and volatile world than at any time for decades."

But the blueprint does not commit to spending 3% of U.K. GDP on defense by 2030, one of the factors that spurred John Healey to resign as U.K. defense secretary on June 11

Healey accused the government of underspending on the military at a time of “rising threats," citing a British intelligence assessment that Russia could attack a NATO member country by 2030. He said that the plan put forward by the Treasury would see spending rise to just 2.68% in 2030, after hitting 2.6% next year.

Starmer said Healey’s successor, Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis, had worked to “sharpen and strengthen" the plan. It now includes 15 billion pounds ($20 billion) in spending — more than the 13.5 billion pounds ($18 billion) Healey was offered, but far less than the 28 billion pounds ($37 billion) that defense officials had called for.

Starmer said the 3% target will be reached “in the next Parliament,” a period that could extend to 2034.

Starmer said the plan will ensure “our servicemen and women have the cutting-edge capabilities they need to deter evolving threats and keep the British people safe.” The full document is due to be published later Tuesday.

The plan is a road map for how the U.K. will increase military spending to NATO’s target of 3.5% of GDP by 2035. The U.K. military is seeking to reverse years of decline in the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, which invaded its neighbor Ukraine in 2022 and increasingly tests the defenses of European nations with overt and covert activity.

The U.K. has watched how drones have transformed war in Ukraine, which uses 200,000 of them a month to defend against Russian forces. Britain plans to invest billions in drone systems across all branches of the military. Instead of a planned fleet of new destroyers, the Royal Navy will get hybrid vessels that will act as command hubs for drones.

“The very nature of conflict is changing before our eyes,” Starmer said during a speech at a drone manufacturer near London. He said that, armed with cutting-edge technology, Ukrainian forces have destroyed Russia’s Black Sea fleet, “struck deep into Russian territory and stopped the advance of one of the biggest armies in the world.”

Britain and other NATO member nations have faced pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to increase military spending. Trump has long questioned the value of the military alliance and complained that the United States provides security to European countries that don’t pull their weight.

The resignations of Healey and junior Defense Minister Al Carns were among a series of blows that prompted Starmer to announce last week that he will resign. He is likely to attend a NATO summit in Turkey on July 7 and 8 in one of his last acts as prime minister.

His successor, likely the former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, will be under pressure to stick to the commitments in the defense plan.

Opposition Conservative Party defense spokesperson James Cartlidge said the plan was “too little, too late.”

“The plan is now almost a year overdue and only being rushed through because Keir Starmer is desperate for a legacy,” he said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces a defense plan, in Berkshire, England, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, followed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis arrive for the announcement of a defense plan, in Berkshire, England, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, June 29, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, Pool)

Britain's Secretary of State for Defence Dan Jarvis arrives for a cabinet meeting hosted by Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Downing Street in London, Tuesday, June 23, 2026.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

MONACO (AP) — Monaco ’s chief prosecutor said Tuesday that the suspect who placed an explosive device that injured three people, including a reported Ukrainian tycoon, acted alone and remains at large.

Police in the principality have opened an attempted murder investigation into Monday's incident but aren’t qualifying it as a terrorism investigation, Prosecutor Stephane Thibault told reporters. The motive remains unclear.

One of the three injured is a woman in life-threatening condition, he said. The other is a man who is no longer in life-threatening condition and a child whose life isn’t in danger, he said. He didn’t provide their identities.

The suspected attacker fled into neighboring France, authorities have said.

Media reports identified Ukrainian construction tycoon Vadym Yermolaiev as being among the injured. Ukrainian news site Ukrainska Pravda said he was targeted by Ukrainian sanctions in 2023 for ties to Russia.

The injured woman is being treated at a hospital in Nice, Christophe Mirmand, the minister of state for Monaco, told French news broadcaster LCI on Tuesday. Her partner and a 13-year-old child suffered less severe injuries but remain at hospital, he added.

The explosion occurred around 9 p.m. on Monday at the entrance of a residence near the French border.

Law enforcement officers were deployed Tuesday morning in Monaco and the surrounding area. French and Monaco authorities are searching for an unidentified suspect, whose motive is under investigation, authorities said.

The three victims were “apparently returning home peacefully” in the early evening, according to surveillance footage, Mirmand said. “They were caught in the explosion as they crossed the threshold of their apartment building,” he said.

The victims are “regular” residents of Monaco, but authorities do not yet know whether the family had been threatened in the past, Mirmand said.

“It appears that the family was specifically targeted,” he emphasized, noting that the alleged perpetrator “had walked around the area several times while waiting for the victims,” according to surveillance footage. “In the minutes before the explosion, he was apparently waiting for the victims.”

The attack has shocked the elite principality on the Mediterranean Coast. Monaco’s Prince Albert II described it as “an odious act” and said all the country's services were mobilized to ensure security.

A French national police official said a search is underway for the suspect.

Yermolaiev, a Ukrainian-born businessman originally from the city of Dnipro, built his fortune through the Alef Group, a diversified holding with interests including commercial real estate, manufacturing and agriculture. He became one of the country’s best-known property developers, leading projects that reshaped parts of Dnipro’s city center, and has regularly appeared in rankings of Ukraine’s wealthiest businesspeople.

In an interview with Forbes Ukraine, Yermolaiev said he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and became a Cypriot citizen in 2017.

In December 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions on Yermolaiev as part of a broader package targeting individuals and companies Kyiv said had business links to Russia or Russian-occupied territories.

A coastal playground for the rich and famous, Monaco is renowned as much for its tax-friendly incentives and Formula 1 Grand Prix as its glamorous royal family. The small principality is widely regarded as one of the safest places in the world, including through its extensive surveillance network composed of thousands of CCTV cameras covering most public spaces.

Monaco’s population of 38,000 is multinational, with only a fifth of the population actually citizens of the principality.

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AP journalist Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine contributed to the story.

Investigators examine the scene at the residential building where an explosive device seriously injured three people a day earlier in Monaco, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)

A police officer guards in a street in Monaco, Tuesday, June 30, 2026, a day after an explosive device seriously injured three people at a residential building in Monaco. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)

FILE - A luxury car drives along Monaco Harbor, Nov. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File)