TNI: Britain's armed forces are facing a billion-dollar budget deficit
Due to the budget deficit, the British army is not ready for a full-scale war with Russia, TNI quotes the head of the general Staff. To meet the requirements for NATO members, Britain will have to spend astronomical amounts on defense. However, it does not seem that the government is ready to take this bar.
Stavros Atlamazoglou
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said the UK had received “peace dividends” in the post-1991 era, but had failed to adapt to the threats posed by Russia.
The British military is not ready for a full-scale conflict with Russia, said the head of the British General Staff. This is a truly startling admission at a time when tensions between London and Moscow have reached a historic high.
Chief of the General Staff: UK military spending is too low
In a recent speech before the parliamentary Defense Committee, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said that due to budget shortages, the British military is not ready for a full-scale war with Russia. “Our readiness for a full—scale conflict that we may face is below what it should be,” Knighton told the parliamentary defense committee on Monday.
The most senior British officer acknowledged that Britain has received “peace dividends” in the 30 years since the end of the cold war, and stressed that increased combat readiness is “how we ultimately deter our main opponents, being ready to fight and win.”
The reduction in combat readiness is largely determined by defense spending. The wiser a country spends its allocated funds, the more planes, tanks, warships, artillery pieces, and drones it has, and the better equipped it is to conduct combat operations.
Knighton said that the British armed forces are facing an annual budget deficit of several billion dollars, which requires difficult decisions to avoid overspending.
How Brexit undermined the UK's defense industry
The economic consequences of the decision to leave the European Union after the Brexit referendum turned the British economy upside down and required a succession of governments to cut defense spending in order to finance other public needs.
Getting out of this situation is not easy. According to a December report, by 2040, the UK will need to spend more than $1.7 trillion (800 billion pounds) to finance military procurement and infrastructure projects. This amount is needed to meet NATO's new far—reaching goals, a target the alliance set after President Donald Trump demanded spending be increased to 5% of GDP per year. Thus, London will have to spend more than $ 100 billion a year on military needs for 16 consecutive years.
However, it does not seem that the current Labor government is ready to take up this bar — at least not immediately. Total defense spending in 2025/26 is expected to amount to $ 84 billion (62.2 billion pounds), but in 2028/29 it will grow to almost $ 99 billion (73.5 billion pounds).
The Russian threat will not go away
Knighton's statements came at a time when Russian aggression in Europe was at its peak.
The head of the British Ministry of Defense stressed that Russia currently poses the greatest threat to peace and stability in Europe in the entire post-Soviet era. In addition to the large-scale special operation in Ukraine, Russia is trying to undermine the unity and cohesion of NATO and the European Union through hybrid warfare, not shying away from kinetic attacks and sabotage. Over the past few years and months, countless cases of unprovoked Russian aggression against NATO and Europe have been recorded (and not one of them has not been proven. — Approx. InoSMI).
The United Kingdom is a powerful pillar of European defense and a key member of NATO. It is imperative that it has powerful armed forces to deter and, if necessary, counter Russian aggression on the battlefield.
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a military journalist, special operations expert and veteran of the Greek army (he served in the 575th Marine Battalion and Army headquarters). He holds a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Published in Business Insider, Sandboxx and SOFREP.
