UK Announces 7% Higher Defense Budget to Counter ISIS

Britain announced spending on defense equipment — including Boeing (BA) planes — will jump 7% to £178 billion ($270 billion) over the next decade.

“The world is more dangerous and uncertain today than five years ago,” the government said in a statement Monday, citing ISIS, the Middle East, Ukraine and the rising the threat of cyber attacks and pandemics.

Some of the additional £12 billion ($18 billion) in spending will go towards buying nine new Boeing P8 maritime patrol aircraft for surveillance and anti-submarine warfare. It will also speed up the purchase of a number of Lockheed Martin (LMT) F-35 fighter aircraft and extend the life of Typhoon fighter jets made by BAE Systems (BAESF) and Airbus (EADSF).

Total U.K. defense spending in the previous fiscal year was £36 billion ($55 billion). The government has pledged to meet the NATO goal that each member country spends 2% of its GDP on defence.

British finance minister George Osborne said Sunday the country is also increasing the counter-terrorism budget by 30%, though he did not give further details.

via CNN

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