Key facts
- Luke Pollard said Russian naval activity around the UK rose 41% in the first nine months of 2026.
- The Northern Navies Initiative covers the UK, the Netherlands and Baltic and Nordic countries, Pollard said.
- Pollard said UK frigates could fall from 12 in 2021 to three by 2030.
- Chancellor John Healey allocated an extra £10bn a year to defence in 2030 in October's budget.
- A further £90m will fund underwater drones and sensors for the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap, Pollard said.
- Ukraine has used sea drones to destroy around a third of Russia's Black Sea fleet, forcing it to relocate.
Russian naval activity around the UK rose 41% in the first nine months of 2026, UK minister for defence readiness Luke Pollard said, as the Royal Navy announced plans to step up a 10-country maritime defensive effort in response.
Pollard, speaking at the navy's International Sea Power conference held on the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier in Oslo, described the figure as "a huge increase". He said the plan is for sea drones from the UK and other countries to work interchangeably with warships across the Northern Navies Initiative, which he called "the alliance of beer-drinking nations": the UK, the Netherlands and the Baltic and Nordic countries.
"The model that we want is where British autonomy [drones] can be teamed with a British warship or a Danish warship or a Norwegian warship and can hand that autonomy off to an allied nation's warship," Pollard said. A future Royal Navy would combine warships and drones "because that would increase our lethality", he said, sidestepping a debate about the number of UK frigates, which could drop from 12 in 2021 to three by 2030.
Last month, the cross-party defence select committee warned that the navy risked failing to deter Russian aggression in the seas around the UK because of shortfalls in the number and availability of warships and submarines. Pollard blamed the Conservatives for capacity shortfalls, saying decisions taken 10 to 15 years ago left fewer ships and submarines than he would like.
An extra £10bn a year allocated to defence in 2030 by chancellor John Healey in October's budget means the UK could "send a clear demand signal to industry", Pollard said. Since the budget announcement there have been no major defence spending announcements, with the UK sticking to the defence investment plan announced in June and fully funded in the budget, which included a £1.5bn investment in sea drones over four years.