Title:
Is Britain Ready for War? Former Navy Chief Reveals Startling Truth
Content:
THE world is more dangerous now than during the Cold War – and Britain isn’t ready to defend itself, a former Navy chief has warned.
Lord Admiral West blasted the “too little, too late” defence budget hike, while despairing over our “hollowed out” armed forces and the future vulnerability of the Royal Navy.
The Growing Danger Ahead
Speaking on Central Recorder’s World at War show, Lord West argued that “at long last” the world was waking up to the multiple threats that our island nation faces.
The former First Sea Lord fully agreed with PM Rishi Sunak’s assessment last month that the world is “more volatile and dangerous” than at any time since the Cold War.
The Unpredictability of the Modern World
However, he went further to say that the nuclear-sabre-rattling era of global superpowers was “safer in some ways because everyone understood it”. The world now, he argued, is “very unpredictable” as he listed off the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and the escalating tensions in the South China Sea.
The Urgency of Improving Defence
As we move into what British leaders have called a “pre-war world”, West declared that our armed forces are “not of a size they should be.” “At long last, I think people are understanding: ‘Goodness me, we’ve taken too much out of defence,’ ” but added that for too long the forces have been “hollowing out.”
The Need for Immediate Action
“The last of them we won’t have until the 2040s or something. That is no good if a war happens in the next three to four years.” The problem, he argued, was a lack of investment made far enough in advance that in the years to come will leave the Royal Navy will be left empty and vulnerable.
Britain’s armed forces strength in numbers
The UK is currently a Top 10 global military power, but comes in sixth place behind Russia, China, India and South Korea. The UK ranks 29th out of 145 nations for active personnel – 184,860. It is 8th on the list for reserve personnel numbers with 924,000, so the total military personnel tops 1,108,860.
Investing in the Future
Lord West emphasized the need to invest now in future warships to shore up the defenses of the UK. “We should have made sure we ordered things earlier…. [because] suddenly there will be a drop, because ships will fall off the end of their lives and there’ll be nothing there.”
In conclusion, the former Royal Navy Chief and Falklands War hero placed a stark warning: that the UK is not ready for a ‘hot war’ and urgent action needs to be taken to bolster the country’s defenses.