Blain’s Morning Porridge June 11th, 2026 – UK Defence Investment Plan delayed again!“To avoid war – be prepared to fight.”The UK’s Defence Investment Plan has been delayed yet again, mired in cabinet warfare on spending. The DIP will focus on big projects like a new fighter-jet but will make a nod to the lessons learnt in Ukraine. The big issue is how the defence industry will evolve away from Defence Primes towards financing the start-ups that can change the battlespace with new tech that is adaptable, available now, cheap and good-enough. There was a defence conference and exhibition a few weeks ago in Kiev. My colleagues from Spitfire Strategic Capital were there. A retired British 4-star general, and former Deputy Supreme Commander of Nato, (who is on our advisory board), looked around the exhibition of Ukraine weaponry and quietly commented, “for 1/10th of the budget I could build the army of tomorrow, instead of spending it all on the army of yesterday.”There is a blunt reality to war: When deterrence stops working you are either the aggressor or hope the enemy won’t attack until you are ready. As we all know – hope is never a strategy. Today the defence of the UK is hiding behind hope. Our armed forces are willing and brave, but unprepared, undermanned and poorly-equipped for modern war – which will be fought in a battlespace that has been constantly evolving since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.In a world of rapidly shifting Geopolitics, instability, threats and the de-facto collapse of the Transatlantic Relationship, defence should be the Nation’s number one priority.Yet the government dithers.Today we were expecting the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan to be published – detailing how the Government will spend money to re-establish the UK’s strategic deterrence.

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