According to the plan being discussed by the British Defense Comprehensive Assessment Report, the British Army will reduce nearly 10,000 soldiers in the next decade, according to the plan being discussed by the British Daily Telegraph website on February 12.
The full text is excerpted as follows:
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace is considering reducing the number of full-time trained soldiers from 82,000 to 72,000 as part of the assessment report scheduled for next month.
The Daily Telegraph believes that this move reflects that the pattern of the war is “changing”.
A UK Department of Defence source said: “We are studying the threat of war, and what battlefields we may fight in tomorrow that we have never encountered.”
The source also said that “there is no reason to maintain 82,000 troops” and there is no reason not to develop “the right drones, the right guns, the right air cover and armoured personnel carriers”.
“If someone expects the armed forces to look the same after this phase, they’re wrong,” he said.
As of October 1, 2020, the Army has a total of 80,760 full-time trained soldiers, including all personnel from new cadets to long-term service personnel.
The source cautioned that the Army “it’s been 10 years since it didn’t reach the size of 82,000 people, and we’re doing well.”
It is understood that the Ministry of Defense does not make simple layoffs part of the reduction of the army, and it has not confirmed which battalions of soldiers will be reduced.
Instead, some personnel may not be replaced after they are discharged from the army.
Defense Department sources confirmed that the assessment report significantly increased the Army’s budget.
Last November, Britain announced that it would increase defense spending, the largest increase since the Cold War.
In announcing that the Ministry of Defense will spend an additional £16 billion over the next four years, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hinted that “the new spending will greatly enhance the combat effectiveness of each warship, every military aircraft and every infantry combat unit, and the countries whose troops move most quickly and flexibly will gain an advantage, without It must be the country with the largest number of troops.
After announcing the decision, Wallace also confirmed in an interview that the number of people is likely to decrease as the focus shifts to new theaters, including space and cyberspace.
It follows the Daily Telegraph’s disclosure that the military will cut £1 billion in its budget next year, including suspending the service of naval reserve personnel for the first time, because Wallace hopes to save money and fill the £13 billion funding gap he faced when he took over in July 2019.
However, the reduction of military posts is “absurd,” said Gen. Richard Dannett, the former Chief of General Staff of the British Army.
He said: “To achieve this goal, it requires the reduction of infantry, which is so small that many people can imagine.
This is ridiculous. The size of the army has never been so small as it is now.”
Tobias Elwood, chairman of the British Parliament’s Defence Special Committee, said that the reduction of posts “will cause a devastating blow to our armed forces”.
“If there’s one thing this pandemic has taught us, it’s that we have to have the stock and resilience …
Armed forces are already struggling with their current tasks, and their tasks will only become more complex and more difficult given the increasing threats that may arise in the future,” he said.
A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defence said: “The army will continue to maintain the strength and combat effectiveness needed to defend Britain. As the threat changes, our armed forces must change.
With record financial support, the force is re-planning to deal with future threats instead of going to war according to the old routine.
