UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace acknowledged Monday that the British Army «has lagged behind» compared to those of other countries with which London can be benchmarked, and insisted on the need for more investment.
These declarations by Wallace to the British channel Sky News come after the same channel reported the day before that a U.S. general had told the British minister that the Armed Forces of the islands were no longer considered to be of a high level.
In this context, Wallace acknowledged the need for greater investment, although he criticized the position of those who insist that the improvement of the UK’s arms capabilities must be immediate, as «there is no magic wand» for this.
«There are only two countries that can maintain near-constant production lines: China and the United States. Of course we can try to buy from abroad, but then there would be no UK aerospace and defense industry,» clarified the British defense official.
The warnings of the aforementioned US general have also reached the ears of the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, with which the Downing Street spokesman has come out to insist that the country has a «high-level combat force».
«We are ensuring that our Armed Forces have the equipment and capability it needs to meet the threats of tomorrow,» said the Prime Minister’s spokesman, referring at this point to an arms and defense project valued at 242 billion pounds — more than 275.6 billion euros — over ten years.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the main European powers, such as France and Germany, to approve plans for a significant increase in defense spending. The United Kingdom has not yet moved in this direction, although it plans to update defense spending before the spring budget.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson increased defense spending in 2020 to £16 billion–over €18.22 billion–the highest budget since the Cold War. Now, Sunak is resisting raising the budget for the military to three percent of GDP by 2030, a promise of his predecessor in office, Liz Truss.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
