A senior U.S. general has recently warned U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace that the British Army is no longer considered to be among the world’s top–tier fighting forces, according to a Sunday report.
The source told Wallace that decades of cuts to Britain’s military defense has eroded the country’s fighting capabilities, Sky News reports.
FILE: Soldiers in action as the British Army demonstrate the latest and future technology used on operations across the globe on Salisbury plain training area on October 29, 2019, in Salisbury, England.
(Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)
The source is quoted as saying: “Bottom line… it’s an entire service unable to protect the U.K. and our allies for a decade.”
Another reportedly said there was a greater sense of urgency for the U.K. to revive its military in the wake of Russia’s ongoing military aggression against Ukraine.
The Sky News report offers details of the U.K.’s military to paint of picture of what the country is up against. For example, the majority of its armored vehicles were built between 30 to 60 years ago and “full replacements are not due for years.”
The U.S. general is said to have told Wallace that the U.K. military is not a “tier one” fighting force like the United States, Russia, China, or France and is “barely” in tier two.
FILE: British Army soldiers, from the Royal Welch Fusiliers Regiment and Iraqi National Guards, reboard a Chinook Helicopter in southern Iraq, during their first joint Eagle Airborne Vehicle Check Point Patrol.
(Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images)
The need for the U.K. to modernize its military comes even as the country has pledged to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Earlier this month, the U.K. pledged to send Ukraine tanks after Kyiv again fell victim to missile strikes and as heavy ground warfare continued in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would send Ukraine Challenger 2 tanks along with additional artillery systems following a Saturday call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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A U.S. defense source is quoted as saying Sunak’s “wartime approach is currently to cut the army, hollow it out further by gifting [equipment to Ukraine] and with no plans to replace [the weapons] for five to seven years.”
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
