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Integrated Review 2021

Image shows two F-35 Lightning aircraft flying above the sea.
The Integrated Review will cover all aspects of international and national security policy, such as defence, diplomacy, development, and national resilience.

What is the Integrated Review?

The Government’s Integrated Review is an ambitious initiative which will:

  • define the Government’s ambition for the UK’s role in the world and the long-term strategic aims for our national security and foreign policy
  • set out the way in which the UK will be a problem-solving and burden-sharing nation
  • set a strong direction for recovery from COVID-19, at home and overseas, so that together we can “build back better”

The Review will cover all aspects of international and national security policy, such as defence, diplomacy, development, and national resilience.

The Integrated Review is being led by the Prime Minister with the National Security Council and is a whole-of-government effort across Departments, including Defence. The guiding principle of the Integrated Review is to ask ourselves what the threat is and whether we have the capability to meet it.

Image shows a concept image of the new Protector aircraft.
The new RAF Protector Remotely Piloted Air System will be delivered to the RAF in 2023.

What does the Integrated Review mean for the Royal Air Force?

The RAF will continue to provide the air and space power which underpins UK security, resilience and prosperity. But to meet the evolving threats we face the RAF must change too, our adversaries are developing and fielding an increasingly diverse range of threats and capabilities which challenge UK air and space operations on the ground, in the air and in space.

The Integrated Review will set the course and allow us to invest in the changes and modernisation we need to meet these new threats. The RAF will, as it has done before, adapt quickly, innovatively, and with determination, and it will not shy away from taking difficult decisions. We will radically overhaul how we are organised and how we approach our people, our training, our bases, and the aircraft and equipment we operate. This will enable the RAF to be amongst the most technologically pioneering, productive and lethal air forces in the world for its size.

Image shows a concept image of future RAF uncrewed aircraft.