Defence Diplomacy Strategy
How UK Defence can deepen its international relationships with allies and partners to support defence and wider foreign policy.
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The global security landscape is more dangerous and more contested than at any point in recent history. The threats to the UK are real, intensifying, and do not stop at borders. How we deter them and defend ourselves against them depends on the strength of our alliances and our ability to work seamlessly with partners.
In the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) published on 2 June 2025, the Government committed to bring forward a Defence Diplomacy Strategy. Today, we fulfil that commitment. Our first ever Defence Diplomacy Strategy lays the foundation for UK Defence to be more deliberate, targeted and coherent in deepening its international relationships with allies and partners to support defence and wider foreign policy.
The Strategic Defence Review is clear on what is required. The UK must be ready to fight and win, strengthen Euro-Atlantic security, and put NATO at the heart of everything we do.
The Rt Hon John Healey MP, Secretary of State for Defence said:
In this new era of threat, now is the era for hard power, strong alliances and sure diplomacy. Since we entered office, our government has strengthened the UK’s relationships with our key allies and partners. We’ve got new defence agreements with Norway, Germany, France, the EU. We’ve delivered record defence export deals. And I’m proud that the UK is leading on international support for Ukraine. This is critical for delivering security for people at home, boosting NATO’s collective deterrence and making defence an engine for jobs and growth.
The Defence Diplomacy Strategy’s vision is to make the UK secure at home and strong abroad, by focusing on the partnerships that underpin NATO First and shape wider UK interests.
A NATO First approach means leading within the Alliance, shaping its future, and ensuring the UK remains a credible, dependable partner.
Minister of State for Defence, Lord Coaker said:
The threats we face are more serious and less predictable than at any time since the Cold War. NATO First does not mean NATO only – security in the Euro-Atlantic is indivisible from security in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific. This first ever Defence Diplomacy Strategy ensures the UK remains fully committed to working with our global allies and partners on shared priorities.
Defence diplomacy is therefore not an optional extra, it is a core tool of national power, central to deterrence, resilience and growth.
The Defence Diplomacy Strategy enables Defence to co-ordinate more closely across government to deliver the UK’s foreign and defence policy objectives. While the full Strategy is necessarily classified, the public summary focuses on the implementation actions:
- A prioritised approach - aligning effort to outcomes and measuring progress.
- Coordinating the use of all the levers and tools of Defence through the Defence Strategic Effects Cycle.
- Making defence diplomacy an engine for growth - driving jobs, investment and prosperity.
- Expertise that endures - language skills, regional knowledge and valued international careers.
- One team, one plan - visits, training, exercises and exports working towards the same objectives.
- Evidence-based impact - data driven planning and systematic measurement of results.
This is a new model for how the UK projects defence influence overseas: disciplined, prioritised, data-driven and outcome focused. It is about turning our alliances into our strategic strength, partnerships into deterrence, and diplomacy into security and growth for the nation.