Image source: topwar.ru
Great Britain needs a larger army in terms of numbers and potential. This was stated by the Minister of Defense of the United Kingdom, Ben Wallace. As the head of the British military department noted, the country will move from the country with the largest military expenditures in Europe to eighth place. This is due to the fact that defense spending is low, it will be less than the required indicator of the North Atlantic Alliance of 2% of national income.
As Ben Wallace told Sky News, if the new Prime Minister of Great Britain decides to spend an additional tens of billions of pounds on military needs, the kingdom's army will grow. According to the plans of the current government, by 2025, the British armed forces were to be reduced in number from 82,000 people to 72,500 people. Such a number would be the minimum for hundreds of years of the existence of the British kingdom.
However, if this goal is achieved, the cost of financing the armed forces will fall below the established NATO bar. Interestingly, Ben Wallace remains silent about the prospect of supporting one of the two candidates for the post of prime Minister - the current Foreign Minister Liz Truss or the former head of the Ministry of Finance Rishi Sunak.
Meanwhile, Liz Truss has promised to increase defense spending to 3% of gross domestic product by the end of the 2020s. Sunak, unlike Truss, opposes "arbitrary goals" and believes that defense spending can only grow to 2.5%, and then over time. Wallace's statement, therefore, can be seen as a clear message to the two candidates for prime minister. Apparently, the support of the candidacy of one of them by the current head of the military department also depends on whether they will be ready to expand funding for the British army.
With the increase in military spending, Wallace associates the prospects for faster implementation of some programs for equipping and arming the British army. Wallace also noted that the armed forces are analyzing the lessons of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.
For example, the need for longer-range artillery pieces and their large numbers is already obvious. In addition, the UK will need anti-drone systems, missile defense, electronic warfare, and so on.
Wallace noted that, based on the lessons of the Ukrainian conflict, it is better to have small, but well-armed and well-protected armored and motorized infantry units than a large amount of military equipment without modern protection, since such equipment is very vulnerable on the battlefield.
