The Defence Investment Plan (DIP), released by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 30 June 2026, notes that the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), published on 2 June that year, “identified that the cyber and electromagnetic (CyberEM) domain is at the heart of modern warfare” and “is the enabling domain that integrates all others”.

The SDR makes clear, states the DIP, that the CyberEM domain “is no longer a supporting function, but a central arena of competition and conflict in which the United Kingdom is already engaged on a daily basis” and that the UK “is in constant confrontation with adversaries in cyberspace, defending national infrastructure that provides essential services to the public and to government, and protecting supply chains”.

Somewhat alarmingly, the DIP concedes that the UK “faces over 90,000 cyber attacks on its defence systems annually”.

In November 2025, following an SDR recommendation, the UK MoD established the Defence Cyber and Electromagnetic Force (DCEMF) to command defensive cyber operations as part of the Cyber & Specialist Operations Command (CSOC) while preserving single-service expertise and ability to act. The DIP notes that over 500 personnel now comprise the DCEMF, with the first fast-track, direct-entry cyber recruits having graduated from the Defence Cyber Academy in Shrivenham while recruitment for the second tranche is in train.

Outlining future spending on the CyberEM domain, the DIP states that from FY26/27 to FY29/30 GBP 1.4 billion (EUR 1.63 billion) will be spent on cyber capabilities and GBP 1.1 billion will be spent on the ‘Defence Electromagnetic Enterprise’.

The DIP’s most transformative investments over the next four years are listed as follows:

• A total investment of GBP 2.5 billion to sustain and develop the new DCEMF;
• Investment in automated detection and response to counter advanced threats;
• Defence Electromagnetic Enterprise operations, including driving adoption of standards for interoperability and sustainment of electromagnetic capabilities across the maritime, land and air domains;
• An investment of GBP 130 million under Project Crenic to deliver an initial scaling of next-generation counter-radio frequency (c-RF) capabilities to protect UK service personnel by to detecting and defeating radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (RCIEDs) and small uncrewed air systems (sUAS).

The DIP further noted that between 2030 and 2035 the UK MoD plans to invest at least GBP 5 billion in new capabilities for the CyberEM domain to meet the vision set out in the SDR and to reflect the pace of technological change in this area.

“These investments will enhance our ability to provide a secure cyber and electromagnetic environment – essential for UK defence and broader national security interests,” the DIP states. “Potentially hostile state and non-state actors will be presented with a more complex and resilient national network, better able to protect UK defence, industrial and intellectual property. It will be harder to exploit the electromagnetic spectrum to disrupt UK defence and security requirements.”

As is typical with CyberEM domain issues and initiatives, the DIP stated that, “due to the sensitivities of technology under development, further detail is held at a higher classification” and thus cannot be published.