A Top British General has warned that the British Army in its current state is too small to deal with the current geopolitical situation around the world, and is in dire need of improvement.
General Sir Patrick Saunders, has said that since the Cold War, and after many years of peace the British Arms forces have shrunk considerably to a point where it would be too small in the event that the army was called up to fight. A British MP Tobias Ellwood echoed these sentiments, and said that “What’s coming over the horizon should shock us. It should worry us and we are not prepared.”
There is also a sense that we as a nation have become too passive in recent years, and have not intervened to stop authoritarian states like Russian with the current conflict in Ukraine, this reluctance is something other countries could look to exploit.
The current size of the army is believed to be in the region of 73,000, and due to low poor pay, this could drop even lower. During the Cold War, Britain had around 36 jet squadrons, we now reportedly only have six, which indicates our defence prowess has shrunk considerably.
Ellwood also said: “Our world is no longer at peace. We’re moving to a world at war. Britain absolutely has a role to play, but we need to upgrade our defence posture.”