A retired British army General has said that the force is not ready to fight against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
General Sir Richard Barrons said that the UK’s army is “second class” and that neither the Royal Navy nor the RAF are ready to take on their Russian equivalents.
He told the Sun that the forces “know that they are not ready to fight against a mobilised and aggressive Russia as part of NATO”.
General Barrons’ comments come as criticism of the state of the UK’s armed forces and calls for more investment grows amidst fears about the potential start of World War 3 in the coming years.
Former military commanders have suggested that the UK should try and copy Poland in modernising and updating his armed forces, so they are better prepared for future conflict.
Former tank commander Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon said that the UK needed to “catch up” and that it was important for “other NATO countries…like Germany and France” to “get our acts together”.
The former military commanders aren’t the only ones to call for change in the British military. Former civil service chief Sir Mark Sedwill has urged the government to double its spending on defence to nearly four percent of GDP.
Writing in the Independent he said Ukraine’s allies needed to run their factories 24/7 and that this was an opportunity for Britain to “lead by example”.
As fears about the possibility of World War 3 have intensified, more and more people have been trying to work out what Britain needs to do to prepare for war.
Last month, a new report published by the New Bletchley Network titled ‘Rebuild The Army Now – to Prepare, Prevent, Deter War’ said it was crucial for Britain to start preparing now.
The report was co-written by military experts including retired General Sir Richard Barrons and Professor Michael Clarke.
In it, they gave a damning review of the UK’s armed forces: “British Army credibility has been weakened by 20 plus years of hollowing out and diminished fighting power. Army morale is fragile.”
The report added: “To be credible in deterrence terms we need to prepare genuinely for war and communicate this to potential foes, NATO and allies, and particularly to the British public.”
What the report proposed was for the UK to develop a New Model Army that would be ready at a moment’s notice to go to war.
They explained that the UK had “signal to adversaries and potential adversaries” that it was “strong and want to get stronger whilst at the same time having no interest in attacking”.
The report concluded that in order to be prepared for a future war there had to be “bold and make difficult, sometimes unpopular, decisions if we are able to deliver credible fighting power within realistic budgets and to meet the time imperative”.
