British military drops basic training to fast track recruitment of ‘cyber warriors’

The British government is dropping the traditional fitness and weapons training for specialist cyber military recruits in order to address a cyber skills shortage within His Majesty’s Armed Forces, including in its arm for offensive operations in the National Cyber Force.

The new pipeline will see up to 50 recruits accelerated into existing vacancies with either the Royal Navy or the Royal Air Force by the end of this year. The British Army will join the recruitment drive in 2026.

The recruits will complete only four weeks of basic training — reduced from the 10 weeks normally required by the Royal Navy and RAF — before they spend three months learning military cyber skills at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire.

“By the end of 2025, new recruits will be embedded into operational roles, either securing defence’s networks and services at the digital headquarters in Corsham, or conducting cyber operations to counter those who would do the UK harm as part of the National Cyber Force,” the Ministry of Defence stated.

It comes ahead of the launch of the currently understaffed National Cyber Force’s new headquarters when it is completed later this year, in the village of Samlesbury in Lancashire, and amid a sharp focus on the cyber threat posed to the U.K. by adversaries including China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.

Figuring out how to tackle both the new generation of threats and traditional ones is the subject of an ongoing Strategic Defence Review, which is expected to report within the next few months and to set out how the British government will increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030.

Lt. Gen. Tom Copinger-Symes, the deputy commander of Strategic Command, previously told Recorded Future News: “We're going broke for skills and people quicker than we’re going broke for money.”

Read more: British Army general says UK now conducting ‘hunt forward’ operations

The cyber operators recruited through the direct entry scheme “will not be required to serve in dangerous environments and there is no weapons handling involved,” stated the MoD, although typical military adventure training is available.

Eligibility is limited to individuals aged 18 to 39 and those who have sole British citizenship (dual British/Irish citizenship is an exception, according to the RAF). Starting salaries are stated as “over £40,000, with the potential to earn up to an additional £25,000 in skills pay” equivalent to a total of around £65,000 ($80,000).

“We are aiming for up to 50 entrants in 2025 while the training arrangements are further developed,” an MoD spokesperson told Recorded Future News.

“We expect to scale this work for 2026 to best match demand and provide more cyber entry opportunities. This will be reviewed throughout the year as the pilot is conducted, and scaling early may be explored if the demand is strong.”

The initiative is one of several that the Ministry of Defence has adopted to drive up the number of cyber personnel, with schemes underway to identify and train others “from our existing military workforce,” while others are “recruited as civil servants, come from our work with contractors and industry, and through our partnerships with other parts of government,” said the MoD spokesperson.

“It is important to set up the scheme for long term success, for both Defence and for the individuals on the scheme. The training approach will continue to be tested and adjusted as the programme rolls out, and as we prepare for subsequent recruitment rounds. This scheme differs from our traditional approach to selecting and training military personnel. It is important we learn from our experience to get this right.”