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The UK’s “Atlantic Bastion” Is the Right Strategy for the Wrong Country

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16.12.2025

Following the release of the Trump administration’s 33-page National Security Strategy (NSS) memo, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe have turned hard into the notion that they will be rearming rapidly. This new document from Washington, coupled with the Trump administration’s overall moves in the Ukraine War and its more recent decision not to back Japan up in its recent spat with China, has sent shockwaves through the halls of Europe’s capitals.

Now America’s allies are scrambling as they realize that the Trump administration—which has long voiced its displeasure with America being on the hook for the defenses of all these European and Asian states—makes good on at least some of its campaign promises. 

Britain says it will take up the slack of any diminishment of US Navy presence in the Atlantic. London has crafted a new strategy that prioritizes the European theater at the expense of its delusion of returning “East of Suez.” Instead, the Royal Navy wants to create what it’s calling an “Atlantic Bastion” strategy. In essence, London wants an artificial intelligence-powered, hybrid naval force of ships, submarines, aircraft, and unmanned systems to defend the North Atlantic against Russia. 

The main goal of this strategy will be to defend the underlying infrastructure embedded throughout the region—notably undersea cables, pipelines, and other important elements that support European civilization. Britain intends to employ advanced, rapid decision-making capabilities made possible by AI and the best sensors in the world.

However, if one peels back the bureaucratic lingo that comprises the UK’s

© The National Interest