British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has officially announced the existence of the National Cyber Force (NCF) after months of speculation.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister pledged £24.1 billion to the military over the next four years to strengthen the UK’s defence posture, making Britain the largest defence spender in Europe and the second-largest in NATO after the United States.
“The international situation is more perilous and more intensely competitive than at any time since the Cold War and Britain must be true to our history and stand alongside our allies. To achieve this we need to upgrade our capabilities across the board,” Johnson said.
“This is our chance to end the era of retreat, transform our armed forces, bolster our global influence, unite and level up our country, pioneer new technology, and defend our people and way of life.”
As part of the package, £1.5 billion will be invested directly in military research and development. This includes establishing a dedicated centre for artificial intelligence and creating a new RAF Space Command, which will support British satellite launches and the nation’s first rocket launch from Scotland, planned for 2022.
Rob Bassett Cross, CEO of Adarga, welcomed the investment, emphasizing the importance of leveraging the UK’s expertise in data science and software engineering to address contemporary threats and support national security and prosperity.
“It will enable the MoD to leverage the UK’s world-leading data science and software engineering talent to not only help meet the nature of threats now presented in an era of persistent competition; but to benefit the security and prosperity of the UK as a whole.
I warmly welcome the exciting development of a new agency dedicated to artificial intelligence. This will allow the MoD to be bold in its transformation agenda and not to fill holes in existing, outdated programmes, but to shift gear strategically into the information era.”
The government expects the investment to support around 10,000 jobs per year, strengthening the defence sector and regional supply chains.
“This is excellent news for defence and provides us with the financial certainty we need to modernise, plan for the future, and adapt to the threats we face,” said Defence Secretary Ben Wallace. “This settlement secures UK jobs and livelihoods, allows us to invest in our fantastic shipyards and aerospace industry—spreading prosperity to every corner of the UK.”
National Cyber Force
The National Cyber Force, whose existence had been widely speculated about, has now been publicly confirmed. The organisation has reportedly been operational since April.
Unlike GCHQ, which focuses predominantly on defensive cyber activities, the NCF will prioritise offensive cyber capabilities designed to counter operations conducted by state and non-state actors, including those attributed to Russia, Iran, and China.
Operational examples could range from disrupting a hostile hacking group’s infrastructure to prevent large-scale attacks—such as the WannaCry incident that crippled parts of the NHS—to penetrating adversary air-defence systems in support of RAF missions during active combat.
NCF personnel are being drawn from across the UK’s intelligence and defence community, including GCHQ, MI6, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, and the armed forces. The force is expected to grow to around 3,000 people over the next decade.
Historically, the UK has rarely conducted public offensive cyber operations, although there have been notable exceptions. In 2018, GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming referred to a “major offensive cyber campaign” against IS that aimed to suppress propaganda, disrupt attack coordination, and protect coalition forces.
In recent years Western nations have generally lagged in offensive cyber operations compared with some adversaries; the United States remains the most prominent practitioner through U.S. Cyber Command, which pursues strategies such as “persistent engagement” and “defend forward” to counter online threats. One notable target of such efforts has been Russia’s Internet Research Agency, linked to the 2016 U.S. election interference.
The UK says it intends to develop offensive cyber capabilities that can match those of malign actors while operating with greater restraint and oversight.
NCF will be subject to external oversight, and officials hope that revealing the organisation publicly will encourage international debate about the ethical and legal boundaries of cyber operations in modern conflict.
(Photo by Philipp Katzenberger on Unsplash)
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