by WorldTribune Staff, February 6, 2023
If the British military were to get involved in a full-on conflict with Russia, it would run out of ammunition in about 24 hours, a former top British general said.
Spending cuts have depleted Great Britain’s military to such an extent that ammunition and artillery shells would run out in just one day, said Gen. Sir Richard Barrons, who formerly served as the UK Joint Forces chief.
Great Britain’s ammunition plants would need at least one year to produce the amount of shells currently used by the Ukrainians in their conflict with Russia.
“This is truly shocking. But it is true. And we must fix it,” Barrons said. “The UK spends more on defense than any EU ally and our brave Armed Forces have long been one of Britain’s most influential levers around the world.”
For decades, however, the British military has “been hollowed out by spending cuts,” Barrons added, saying that the government would need to spend an additional £3 billion per year on the military to fall in line with the top level of the NATO alliance.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace admitted that the UK’s defense apparatus has been “hollowed out and underfunded. There’s a recognition that as the world gets more dangerous, unstable, defense should continue to get a growing proportion of spend, we can then debate how much that proportion should be.”
The head of the House of Commons Defense Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood, said that currently the British military is in a “dire” state, with 10,000 fewer troops than necessary.
“It is up to the Treasury and Number 10 to recognise the world is changing — we are now at war in Europe, we need to move to a war footing,” Ellwood said.
Britain’s armed forces are no longer able to play a full role in NATO or defend the homeland after years of cutbacks, according to British defence sources, with a senior American general warning London that it has a “barely tier two” force. https://t.co/Nc5CYuYhxx
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) January 30, 2023
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