London will go on increasing military spending – despite the budget crisis. At the same time, the growth of the defense budget will not be very significant – 6 billion pounds over two years.
The British Ministry of Defense begged for a more substantial increase in spending – up to 11 billion pounds. But now they will have to be content with what was found in the budget. Criticism of the deplorable state of the British army is already being voiced in Washington, Paris and Brussels.
This year, the strength of the British army will be reduced to 72,000 soldiers, the lowest since the 18th century. London will write off a third of its tank arsenal, reducing it to 148 vehicles. Of these, about 60 are in combat-ready condition – 14 of which were transferred to Kyiv.
The allocated money will go primarily to replenish the missiles and shells spent in Ukraine. London’s stockpiles of weapons have been reduced to a critically low level – so that the British army will only have enough of them for one day of active hostilities.
Britain will buy new weapons with an eye on the conflict in the Pacific Ocean between China and the United States. Rishi Sunak calls China’s dominance a “systemic challenge to the West” that will shape the current era. Therefore, separate spending will be spent on the modernization of submarines with nuclear weapons, which will be involved in the AUKUS block.
The Pentagon now rates the British armed forces as second rate. In London itself, they admit that they can no longer fight wars on their own. They can only act as an assistant to the United States. And this is what Sunak is going to do – preparing for a big confrontation with China and switching the agenda from Ukraine to Taiwan.
Malek Dudakov
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