UK unable to weather Russian attack, says ex-commander

THE recently-retired commander of Joint Forces Command has warned that Britain’s armed forces would not be able to protect the country from a full-scale attack by Russia or another serious military power.

General Sir Richard Barrons, pictured, who left his post in April, delivered a scathing assessment of the UK military in a 10-page private memo to Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon. Barrons said: “Capability that is foundational to all major armed forces has been withered by design.

“There is a sense that modern conflict is ordained to be only as small and as short term as we want to afford – and that is absurd.

“The failure to come to terms with this will not matter at all if we are lucky in the way the world happens to turn out, but it could matter a very great deal if even a few of the risks now at large conspire against the UK.” The document singles out Russia, a country seen as more dangerous and unpredictable since its annexation of the Crimea and incursion in Ukraine.

“UK air defence now consists of the (working) Type 45 (destroyers), enough ground-based air defence to protect roughly Whitehall only, and RAF fast jets,” said Barrons.

“Neither the UK homeland nor a deployed force could be protected from a Russian air effort.”

The UK National Defence Association backed Barrons’ comments and called on the Government to increase defence spending to three per cent of GDP as two per cent was “not sufficient”.