The 2015 review tied prosperity to sea lanes while accepting capability gaps

The Prime Minister's foreword says economic security and national security depend on one another, then argues that a trading country with millions of citizens overseas cannot treat international engagement as optional. On one reading, economic recovery becomes the precondition for renewed defence investment. The document says British prosperity requires open sea lanes and free-flowing global commerce while acknowledging state conflict, terrorism, cyberattack, and pandemics. Those statements sit awkwardly beside an official two-percent spending claim that included a wider set of costs and continued reductions to the platforms that protected maritime trade. The review also admits that government cannot predict the next five years and must retain versatile means to answer the unexpected. Retiring an existing capability before its promised technology enters service defeats that purpose because the next review can cancel the replacement and make the gap permanent.