The Armed Forces are not ready to fight a war, the Defence Secretary has claimed, while a military source told the Telegraph, “We can fight” but we “might be left dangerously obsolete”. The Telegraph has more.
John Healey said the military had been “hollowed out” and “underfunded” under the last Government to such an extent that it would not be able to deter the enemy if war broke out today.
He said: “The U.K., in keeping with many other nations, has essentially become very skilled and ready to conduct military operations. What we’ve not been ready to do is to fight. Unless we are ready to fight, we are not in shape to deter.
“This is at the heart of the NATO thinking. We’ve got to not just be capable of defending our NATO nations, but more importantly we’ve got to be more effective in the deterrence we provide against any future aggression.”
This week, Vladimir Putin’s allies gathered at a summit in Russia in what the Russian president claimed was the start of a new world order.
In attendance were Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, as well as the leaders of 36 countries including Iran, India, South Africa the UAE, Ethiopia and Egypt.
Military figures suggested Britain could fight but needed to ensure that it remained technologically advanced. A senior Army source told the Telegraph the British military was putting in the work to fight effectively in modern warfare.
“We can fight, no question,” said the source, who warned that the risk the British military faced in war was that it “might be left dangerously obsolete” because adversaries were more advanced.
“We’re ready to fight the last war. But we need to be ready to fight the next war,” he added.
Worth reading in full.
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