Britain is only “just holding on” to its influence in Nato because its Army is too small, the alliance’s deputy commander has warned.
Gen Sir Tim Radford, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe (DSACEUR), the second-in-command of Nato’s military arm, said Britain’s position as one of the organisation’s leading nations could be in doubt after years of defence cuts.
The Army currently has 76,000 serving troops, 21,000 fewer than a decade ago and less than a third of the total when Gen Sir Tim joined the military.
In the past decade, the number of regular soldiers has fallen from 97,000 and is to come down further to 73,000.
“I think we [the British Army] are too small,” Gen Sir Tim, 60, told The Telegraph. “We do need to grow.”
He warned that the country’s position of influence, “hard fought” for by Second World War commander Gen Bernard “Monty” Montgomery, risks being lost. […]
Gen Sir Tim, who retires next month after 38 years’ service, lamented the shrinking numbers, arguing that Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine shows technological advancement cannot be at the expense of personnel.
“Equipment is only as good as the people that are managing and operating it. We have lost the numbers that we should have,” he said.
“I think we’ve had a slight awakening after Ukraine, but we need to do a twin track approach. We need to stay at the leading edge of innovation and technology and lead on that as much as we can.
“But at the same time it needs to be underpinned with hard fighting power.
“If someone comes toward you with a tank, you can’t cyber it away. You can’t cross a bridge with cyber. It needs to be balanced.” Läs artikel