Is the British Army Unprepared for War?
LettsCartoon: BBC reports the UK lacks a plan to defend itself from a looming war.
According to an MP’s report for the defence committee Britain lacks a plan to defend itself and overseas territories from a military attack. It seems the army is underfunded, lacking the latest equipment and the ability to make its own bombs, drones, planes, ammunition and pretty much anything else??!!
In June, Defence Secretary John Healey announced moving the UK to “war-fighting readiness”.
Given the findings from the committee’s report this might be putting the cart a few million miles before the horse parade.
The government announced earlier this year that UK defence spending would rise to 3% of GDP by 2034 at the latest. ‘Late’ being the proverbial word.
We decided to take a look for ourselves and joined the army on its recent manoeuvres/war games/reenactments. The team at Southern Water joined us to try and find their lost bio-pellets.
The government is announcing plans to restart the production of energetics - explosives, pyrotechnics (fireworks?!) and propellants in the UK, after two decades of sourcing these materials from overseas. Reminding us that buzzwords always help.
Meanwhile drones will soon get built in Plymouth and Swindon, which is nice.
According to another recent report, Russia treats the UK as enemy No1 - not the US any more. Which inspired Committee chair Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi to state: “Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, unrelenting disinformation campaigns, and repeated incursions into European airspace mean we cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand.”
It looks a bit late for that.
God save us all if Russia proves less patient/friggin’ fast asleep at the wheel…
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