DUBAI — The Gulf region will feature prominently in the United Kingdom's upcoming strategy review, a top United Kingdom defense official said here Sunday.

Phillip Dunne, UK defense procurement minister, told reporters that the region will be a focus of the upcoming Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR), and indicated it will likely contain an emphasis on increased presence in the region — which could eventually involve the UK's duo of new aircraft carriers.

"We have a theme running throughout the [review] of the importance of international relations across what we do in defense," Dunne said. "We're strengthening international allies and partnerships as being at the core of our mission for defense, and the gulf plays an important part in that."

The minister also pointed to the recent establishment of a permanent naval base in Bahrain as proof that Britain remains committed to putting resources in the region, adding that the UK military hopes to "broaden and deepen our contribution to the security and stability of the region through our SDSR process."

That could eventually include greater deployment of forces in the region, with Dunne hinting that the UK could look to use an aircraft carrier as a force projection tool in the region once they are operational.

"I point you again to the [SDSR], to see what more will be done, not just in this region but elsewhere within areas of NATO operations, for the UK to play a leading role," Dunne said. "As you know, we are in the process of building two aircraft carriers which when they are operational, will restore a very significant carrier strike capability to the armed forces, which will give us potentially a full spectrum response."

The SDSR is a major strategic look that last occurred in 2010. The week starting Nov. 23 has been penciled in to release the SDSR, along with a new national security strategy and a government-wide spending review. The Ministry of Defence budget may effectively be protected, but the department could still be required to meet huge efficiency savings targets as part of the spending review.

In addition to talking about the budget, Dunne also expressed support for UK industry at the trade show, noting that there are over 100 British companies present, an improvement over the 2013 event.

And despite a slump in the price of oil, the UK has not seen a drop off in regional interest of its equipment, Dunne insisted.

"As of now, we anticipate that because of increasing security pressures, that we're not seeing any particular reduction or demand for military capability," he said. "Clearly the oil price has a significant impact on the income coming into many countries in this region, and if that is sustained for many years then there might be some impact on their spending priorities, but as for now we have not seen a significant reduction."

"In fact, far from it — we're seeing more interest in defense capability enhancement by countries in the region."

However, Dunne avoided answering a question about the potential sale of Eurofighter Typhoons to Saudi Arabia.

That sale was reportedly hurt by political considerations, but Dunne insisted the two sides "Maintain a very close relationship" and said he would not be "drawn" into discussion of potential deals in public.

Andrew Chuter in London contributed to this report

Email: amehta@defensenews.com

Twitter: @AaronMehta

Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.

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