UK invests in 5 new colleges for future defense specialists

The country will spend $246 million to establish the five technical colleges. The government announced plans to train submarine engineers, cyber warfare specialists, and welders.

The program also includes funding for thousands of courses, allowing defense industry employers to quickly upskill both current employees and new hires in key technical skills.

Applications for the program are expected to open by the end of 2025, with the colleges set to launch in 2026. The plans have already been commented on by UK Defense Secretary John Healey.

“This is the biggest defense skills plan in decades. It’s British workers who gave UK companies the leading edge in defense innovation and industry,” he said.

Bloomberg reports that on Monday, Keir Starmer’s government will present its defense-industrial strategy.

Bloomberg also notes that Starmer has made defense investment the cornerstone of his plan to increase military spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, including allocations to universities.

“His reshuffle of the UK Cabinet on Friday is aimed at bolstering growth and deriving economic benefits from increased military spending,” the article states.

Additionally, Starmer visited BAE Systems Plc workers this week at the shipyard in Govan near Glasgow, after the company won a £10 billion contract from Norway to build Type-26 frigates for submarine detection, tracking, and combat.

In February, Keir Starmer announced an increase in the country’s defense spending, calling Russia a threat to European cities.

“I witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, and if you had told me then that in my lifetime, we would see Russian tanks rolling into European cities again, I would not have believed you. Yet here we are, in a world where everything has changed, because three years ago, that is exactly what happened,” Starmer said.