The Chief of the Defence Staff has said that the British Army is “not as strong as it could be” which comes after years of “historic underinvestment” from previous governments.
The more senior military officer, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin warned that there have been years of major deficiencies in equipment and manpower within the British Armed Forces.
On Tuesday, Sir Tony spoke at a major land warfare conference in London that the British Army must show “the humility to recognise that we are not as strong as we could be and the determination and focus to put it right.
“There are near-term financial challenges to work through,” he said. “We are addressing historic underinvestment.
“And beneath the headline capabilities there are deficiencies in people, equipment, stockpiles, training and technology.”
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Speaking of Vladimir Putin’s war, he said that situation in Ukraine is “dire” and that Moscow has lost some “550,000 men” which will take the Kremlin five years to build up their forces, The Telegraph reported.
Sir Tony said, “Russia has lost 555,000 men and our assessment is that it would take Putin five years to reconstitute the Russian army to where it was in February 2022, and another five years beyond that to rectify the weaknesses that the war has revealed.”
He said that UK’s armed forces need hypersonic missiles as other allies do and to do their part for NATO’s defences “battalions of attack drones” will be needed.
He said that Russia is getting weaker as the war drags on and praised Ukraine for bringing the Russian “Black Sea Fleet to heel.”
The Chief of the Defence Staff added, “While Putin may not directly attack a Nato member in such an overt manner as to trigger Article V, we have seen that he’s able to threaten us in other ways, in cyber and space and underwater, where our energy infrastructure and digital networks are most vulnerable,” he said.
“Our role as military leaders is to reassure the nation and stiffen its resolve, and our advice to ministers needs to be grounded in a thorough and honest assessment of the threats we face.”
He pointed out that NATO has 3.2 million troops compared to Moscow’s 1.2 million, but the risk of war with Russia remains and as such the alliance has more than half a million “troops at high readiness.”
NATO’s most senior spokesperson has said that the alliance has undergone the most “significant transformation” in a generation.
NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah told CNN, “Since 2014, NATO has undergone the most significant transformation in our collective defense in a generation.
We have put in place the most comprehensive defense plans since the Cold War, with currently more than 500,000 troops at high readiness.!
She added, “Around a third of NATO members have some form of compulsory military service.
“Some allies are weighing up conscription. However, as an alliance we do not prescribe mandatory military service.”
