A senior US general recently warned British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace that the British Army is no longer considered the world’s top combat force, according to a report on Sunday.
The source told Wallace that decades of cuts to Britain’s military defenses are eroding the country’s combat capabilities, Sky News reports.
FILE: British Army Soldiers demonstrate the latest and future technology used in operations around the world at Salisbury Plain Training Area, Salisbury, UK, 29 October 2019.
(Finnbar Webster/Getty Images)
A source is quoted as saying: “In short…it’s a whole service that can’t defend Britain and its allies for ten years.”
Another report said the urgency of the UK to revive its forces has increased following Russia’s continued military attacks on Ukraine.
Ukraine renews call for US F-16S, German fighter jets after country reverses decision to send tanks
A Sky News report provides details of the British military and paints a picture of what the country is up against. For example, most of the company’s armored vehicles were built 30 to 60 years before him, and “a complete replacement should not take years.”
A U.S. general is said to have told Wallace that the British army was “barely” in the second tier, rather than a “first tier” combat force like the United States, Russia, China and France.
File: British Army soldiers from the Royal Welch Fusiliers Regiment and the Iraqi National Guard re-board a Chinook helicopter in southern Iraq during the first joint Eagle Airborne Vehicle Checkpoint Patrol.
(Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images)
The need has arisen for Britain to modernize its armed forces, despite Britain’s promise to continue to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Earlier this month, Britain pledged to send tanks to Ukraine after Kyiv fell victim to another missile attack and heavy ground fighting continued in Ukraine’s Donbass region.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he would send Ukrainian Challenger 2 tanks along with additional artillery systems after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday.
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A US defense source was quoted as saying that Sunak’s “current wartime approach is to cut the military and hollow it out further by giving gifts.” [equipment to Ukraine] No exchange planned [the weapons] 5 to 7 years. ”
Caitlin McFall of Fox News contributed to this report.
