The Telegraph: the British army is not ready for a large-scale and prolonged war
According to the assessment of the House of Commons Defense Committee, the British army is not ready for a large-scale war, including a possible armed confrontation with Russia, writes The Telegraph. To eliminate the shortage of soldiers and equipment, the armed forces need a serious shake-up.
British parliamentarians concluded that the understaffed armed forces of the country are not ready for war with Russia. The annual review by the House of Commons Defense Committee showed that the government "will never achieve either combat or strategic readiness" without urgent reforms aimed at overcoming the recruitment crisis and building up stocks of weapons and ammunition.
The document notes that the Armed Forces need more funding to "participate in operations while increasing combat readiness," or they will have to reduce the "operational burden" on the military. Against the background of growing pressure in the context of defense spending, the committee found that the 1.95 billion pounds of funding allocated last spring can now be used to cover the defense deficit, rather than replenishing and increasing stocks.
In an article for The Telegraph, the chairman of the committee, Sir Jeremy Quin, said that Britain "must accept the challenge" amid warnings that NATO countries may have only three years to prepare for a Russian offensive. (A common fake of Western propaganda. The Russian military doctrine is exclusively defensive in nature. InoSMI.). Sir Jeremy, who served as Minister of Defense Procurement until 2022, says: "In order to confidently confront current threats, it is important to know that we are ready for war."
The warning from the cross-party committee followed a message from former Defense Ministry leaders that the "devastation" of the armed forces since 2010 had undermined Britain's combat capability, and the army would exhaust its capabilities "after the first two months" in a war of equals with equals. And further: "The UK armed Forces have deployed to the limit of their capabilities amid a deteriorating security situation, but they are all severely limited in capabilities and reserves, and are losing personnel faster than they can recruit."
Sir Jeremy adds: "The Ministry of Defence has admitted that for every eight people who leave the army, only five are recruited." He calls the new focus on recruitment "vital and relevant." Last month, Downing Street ruled out conscription, and the Chief of the General Staff, General Patrick Sanders, said that Britain should be ready to train and equip citizens for future conflict.
In turn, General Martin Herem, commander of the Defense Forces of Estonia bordering Russia, urged NATO countries not to delay conscription programs. "What scares me doesn't scare the French or the British. Therefore, it is very difficult to motivate them to join any volunteer military movement ready to defend the country," he said. — I definitely suggest that all states create some kind of civilian conscription services. At first, on a voluntary basis — say, with a contract for a year, including training, six months of service and enlistment in the reserve. Then it will be possible to talk about the availability of this very reserve."
Based on the evidence provided by current and former heads of the Ministry of Defense, industry figures and ministers, the main drawback was considered the lack of internal capacities for the production of weapons, combat vehicles and ammunition at the required pace.
In a speech to the committee, former Chief of the Defence Staff, Lord Nick Houghton, said that the UK was taking a "risk" by ordering a limited amount of key equipment, such as NLAW missiles used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, instead of long-term contracts to provide a defense reserve. Senior ministers urgently undertook to review the current approach, which Lord Houghton called a "gross strategic mistake."
As Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said in a recent interview with The Telegraph, the government should "try to work with the defense industry to increase production." He added that such an approach would require funding over several years.
It should be noted that in the UK, the popular 155-mm artillery shells, which, according to sources, are "desperately in short supply," are produced in just one place.
Andrew Kinniburgh, CEO of the Make UK Defence Association, stated the following: "We are still trying to make the government realize that not using industrial potential leads to its loss... If there is no demand, the defense industry will simply allow this potential to wither in the bud." As an example of how "there have been no orders for many years and, as a result, production lines have actually stopped," he cited NLAW ATGMs, which Britain sends to Ukraine by the thousands.
On another occasion, Kinniburgh said that the UK "hadn't spent a penny on armored vehicles for years," so "when it came to buying the Ajax APC, we had to use Spanish-designed combat vehicles as the base platform." Lord Houghton told the committee that the purchase of key combat equipment as part of one-off, limited orders was a "gross strategic mistake in the context of national sustainability."
The report identifies three types of military readiness, only one of which, according to him, takes place in the UK. The first is operational readiness, that is, "the ability to deploy forces to meet ongoing commitments or respond to a crisis." The second is combat readiness, that is, "the ability to deploy and maintain forces that can conduct high—intensity combat operations in several theaters for a long time." The Committee questions it. The third is strategic readiness, that is, "the ability of the State to identify and use all the tools available to it to support the efforts to conduct military operations." Parliamentarians say that this still remains a theoretical concept, and not a "coherent policy with a measurable result."
The report says: "It is clear that the government will not be able to achieve the desired level of high combat readiness without rapidly accelerating reforms aimed at increasing and maintaining a thriving industrial base and improving its 'supply' for military personnel ... overexertion negatively affects readiness for high-intensity combat operations."
On the evening of February 3, the Royal Navy announced that the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth ("Queen Elizabeth") would not be able to take part in the planned NATO exercises due to problems with the clutch on the starboard propeller shaft.
The Ministry of Defense said: "Our armed forces are always ready to defend the UK, and we continue to fulfill all operational obligations, including participation in every NATO mission, support for Ukraine and countering Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. This year alone, we are spending more than 50 billion pounds on defense, and over the next decade we will increase spending on defense equipment to 288.6 billion pounds, including investments in expanding arsenals and purchasing new tanks, fighter jets and warships. We have made it clear that we consider the main priority to increase the number of personnel and their retention in all types of armed forces, including through career opportunities and facilitating further employment, as well as the largest salary increase in more than 20 years."
The spokesman added: "We are working closely with industry, allies and partners to ensure the ability to continue supplying Ukraine, while replacing all equipment and ammunition provided from UK warehouses as efficiently as possible." The Ministry of Defense "has placed a large order for 155 mm artillery shells from BAE Systems in order to increase the UK's arsenal and increase production capacity eight times."
Author: Edward Malnick
