Britain’s armed forces cannot defend their country’s territory, Rob Johnson, a former director of one of the kingdom’s defence ministry directorates, told the Financial Times.
“In any large-scale operation, we would quickly run out of ammunition. <…> Our defences are too weak and we are not prepared to fight and win an armed conflict of any scale,” said Rob Johnson.
He said Britain’s armed forces operate on the basis of the “absolute minimum”, which only allows them to carry out peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. He added that “Britain has reached a situation where it cannot properly defend the homeland.”
According to the former military official, the country’s next government should raise defence spending to three per cent of GDP, which is about 80 billion pounds (more than $100 billion) a year. This measure will allow Britain to modernise its capabilities in nuclear deterrence and have an army “armed and equipped for 21st century conflicts”, Rob Johnson concluded.
Recall, earlier the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell said that Washington is no longer ready to defend all NATO allies under any circumstances. In this regard, he called on the EU to strengthen its own defence capabilities.
