Military ‘close to breaking’ after years of cuts says ex-commander

YEARS OF defence cuts have left Britain’s armed forces “close to breaking”, former senior military commanders have warned.

MPs on the Commons Defence Committee were told that the Army was “20 years out of date” while the Royal Navy’s anti-submarine warfare capability was “inadequate”.

General Sir Richard Barrons, the former commander of Joint Forces Command, said there were currently “existential risks” to the UK homeland which the armed forces were unable to deal with. He said defence was underfunded to the tune of £2bn a year and that without more resources there was a danger it would simply “fall over”.

The former head of the navy, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, said his successor as First Sea Lord was having to struggle with further unpalatable cuts.

“I imagine the First Sea Lord has a choice between having his left arm cut off or his right arm cut off,” he said.

Sir Richard said the forces appeared to be “in denial” about the scale of the problems they faced and that some supposed military capabilities were no more than “holograms”.

“Defence is close to breaking. Unless you put more money in it, it will fall over,” he said.

“The armed forces are to some extent locked in a denial that they can hold this together. They can’t hold this together. They are effectively fielding holograms of capability in some cases.”

He highlighted the growing range of threats to the UK to which, he said, the forces had no answer.

“We are locked in a daily confrontation with Russia,” he said.

“We are looking at North Korea which within the next 18 to 20 months will mate a nuclear missile to an intercontinental-range ballistic missile which can reach London. We can’t deal with that.”

He said the Army was “20 years out of date”, lacking air defences, unmanned drones and cyber warfare capabilities.

In a battle, he suggested that it could suffer the same fate as two Ukrainian mechanised battalions which were destroyed in the space of 15 minutes by a combination of Russian drones and longrange artillery.

“We can’t deal with that. If we want an Army that can actually fight, we have got to acquire some modern capabilities.

“It is miles from being able to do that,” he said.

Sir Richard said that suggestions that the Army’s armoured strength could be reduced further would leave it unable to make any major contribution to military operations.

The warning comes after Prime Minister Theresa May used her speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London on Monday to accuse Russia of “meddling” in elections to “sow discord in the West”.

“(Russia) is seeking to weaponise information,” she said.

The armed forces are to some extent locked in a denial. General Sir Richard Barrons on what he claims is a refusal to face reality.