Maintenance of the transatlantic relationship is fundamental to our security and defence policy

As the only global superpower the US will be central to the UK’s and Europe’s security and, in many cases, we will not be able to achieve our own objectives without them. Our strategic alliance with the US will therefore remain key and we will want to maintain a significant degree of influence with them.

The most demanding expeditionary operations, involving intervention against state adversaries, can only plausibly be conducted if US forces are engaged, either leading a coalition or in NATO. Where the UK chooses to be engaged, we will wish to be able to influence political and military decision making throughout the crisis, including during the post-conflict period.

The significant military contribution the UK is able to make to such operations means that we secure an effective place in the political and military decision-making processes. To exploit this effectively, our Armed Forces will need to be interoperable with US command and control structures, match the US operational tempo and provide those capabilities that deliver the greatest impact when operating alongside the US.

Continuing exchanges with the US on issues such as rapid deployment planning, developing doctrine and concepts, and new technologies, will remain important. The key to retaining interoperability with the US, for our European allies as well as the UK, is likely to rest in the successful operation of NATO’s new Allied Command for Transformation.

The full text of current UK Defence Policy can be found in the Defence White Paper 2003 at the following link.

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/051AF365-0A97-4550-99C0-4D87D7C95DED/0/cm6041I_whitepaper2003.pdf