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UK’s top general has warned that the British Army “can only seize a small town” as forces have shrunk to post-Cold War lows.
This should serve as a wake-up call to the government to start ploughing billions into the UK’s armed forces and move away from being a welfare state.
Britain’s Armed Forces are dangerously undersized, with the army now capable of nothing more than “a very small” operation, and the US or NATO would “more likely” take the lead in any conflict.
General Sir Richard Barrons, co-author of the Government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), said the “Today’s army, frankly, could do one very small thing. Essentially, it could seize a small market town on a good day,” highlighting the impact of decades of post-Cold War downsizing.
He added: “What it cannot do is anything substantial.”
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Since 1990, the regular army has halved from 150,000 to 73,000 troops, with 23,000 in reserves. The Royal Air Force has dropped from 850 combat jets to 160, while the Royal Navy has shrunk from 50 major surface ships to 13, not all of which can deploy at once.
Dr Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute pointed out that defending the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut cost 10,000 soldiers—roughly the size of Britain’s entire infantry—illustrating the gap between NATO demands and UK capability.
He added: “That would almost be the entire infantry force of the British military. So, yes, General Barrons is right and it’s important to note that the demand from NATO… requires substantially more capability.”
The warnings come amid scrutiny over the Navy’s recent operations, including the delay of HMS Dragon to Cyprus after Iranian aggression, with Germany’s Sachsen frigate stepping in as NATO flagship.
Sir Richard said: “The conundrum that we live with today – and it is profoundly important – is we’ve now entered a new era in global affairs, a much greater risk. But we’re entering it with the Armed Forces we were left with from a much more comfortable, peaceful time.”
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge is demanding that the Prime Minister to stop “prioritise welfare over Defence spending” as the Ministry of Defence has been left with a “penny-pinching posture which is why they’ve slashed ship availability.
This comes as the veteran Tory MP warned on Thursday that “Labour ministers didn’t have a single warship in the Middle East for the first time in decades, just as war was starting” and the situation is a “complete shambles.”
Critics have intensified their demands for the Defence Investment Plan, which was due in December last year but has yet to be published, highlighting concerns that Britain lacks a solid defence strategy amid rising international tensions.
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