UK details how Warfighting Ready Plan 2029 will be delivered

In a written answer to Conservative MP James Cartlidge, defence minister Luke Pollard said the Warfighting Ready Plan 2029 has already been published internally across government and is actively shaping engagement within Defence, as well as with international allies, industry and academia.

Pollard made clear that the plan does not follow the traditional model of a programme building towards a single declaration of full operating capability. “Rather than having full operating capability being defined as a single milestone, the Plan is iterative,” he said. “It is designed to deliver significant transformation over the next four years whilst responding to emerging threats, novel capability and confirmed resource allocation.”

The plan sets out how the Royal Navy intends to improve readiness using existing assets while prioritising capabilities needed for future conflict. It reflects a broader shift in defence planning towards speed, adaptability and continuous transformation, rather than linear procurement cycles.

That approach mirrors messaging already delivered publicly by senior naval leadership. The First Sea Lord has described the Warfighting Ready Plan 2029 as a live framework rather than a future aspiration. “This is not future technology. This is stuff that is here now, and we have a plan to deliver it,” he said when launching the plan. “It goes live within the Royal Navy as I’m speaking.”

According to the First Sea Lord, the plan has been shaped by extensive wargaming designed to identify strengths, weaknesses and areas where allies must fill gaps. “We have built this plan on the back of extensive wargaming to understand our weaknesses and our strengths, to understand where we can complement our allies and where they can complement us,” he said, adding that the Navy must be prepared to “discard the old and leap to the new.”

The Royal Navy has moved away from previous concepts for replacing its Landing Platform Docks, instead pursuing smaller, more distributed platforms with greater autonomy, aligned with the transformation of the commando force. “More distributed, smaller with more autonomy, our landing force will match the commando capability we’re creating,” the First Sea Lord said.

The Warfighting Ready Plan 2029 underpins a series of near-term shifts as rom next year, the Royal Navy expects new sensors in the Atlantic and the issuing of Bastion contracts delivered as a service. The commando force is completing its transition to dispersed, technology-enabled teams designed for operations in the High North, while wider naval reforms are being accelerated under the plan.

Senior figures have argued that ‘warfighting’ must be treated as “a discipline for action”, with an emphasis on stripping away bureaucracy that slows decision-making. The Navy has pointed to the removal of administrative processes that saved around 200,000 person-hours in a matter of months, time that is now intended to be reinvested directly into readiness.

Industry is being drawn in as a co-investor, with naval leadership stating that for every pound invested by Defence, industry has contributed four. Allies are equally critical, particularly for protecting undersea cables, energy routes and global supply lines that the UK cannot secure alone. Rather than a finish line, the plan is intended to provide a framework that evolves alongside threats, resources and technological change. As naval leaders have framed it, the alternative to moving at pace is unacceptable. “We are moving out because we have no choice,” the First Sea Lord warned. “The alternative is not worth thinking about.”