The Committee on the issue of defense of the House of Commons of the British Parliament published a report concerning the defense capability of the country. According to the parliamentarians' report, the kingdom's troops are not ready for war, the UNN writes with reference to the official report of the parliament.
"Readiness is the ability to deploy personnel and equipment in a timely manner so that personnel are trained to use that equipment effectively and the Armed Forces are able to sustain the deployment until the mission is accomplished. We have considered each of the following factors in relation to the UK:
- operational readiness - the ability to deploy forces to meet standing commitments or respond to a crisis. We believe it is proven, but with overstretch problems.
- combat readiness - the ability to deploy and sustain forces that can fight with high intensity in multiple territories over an extended period of time. We find this questionable;
- strategic readiness - a state's ability to identify and utilize all the tools available to it to support military action. It appears that it is still more of a concept being discussed within the government than a coherent policy with measurable results," the committee's findings said.
Швеция и Великобритания присоединились к Коалиции дронов для Украины25.01.2024, 15:32
Parliamentarians say they have been hampered throughout the inquiry by a lack of transparency on the part of the government. Members of the House of Commons have faced long periods of inability to obtain information that had previously been published publicly.
"The UK Armed Forces have been deployed beyond their capacity in response to the deteriorating security situation, but they are all short of capability and reserves, and are losing personnel faster than they can recruit. They are also constantly overstretched, and this is having a negative impact on retention, as well as delaying the development of combat readiness. Either the Ministry of Defense must be fully funded to participate in operations and simultaneously develop combat readiness or the Government must reduce the operational burden on the Armed Forces.
There is no easy answer to these problems. We recognize that the Government is considering options to improve recruitment and retention while seeking to reform its procurement system to build industrial capacity so that ammunition stocks can be replenished. We welcome these initiatives, but realize that previous reforms have not had the desired effect. It is clear that the government will never achieve warfighting or strategic readiness without a thriving industrial base and without proposals that can attract, develop, and sustain sufficient numbers of skilled military personnel to meet the growing and evolving military challenges we face as a nation. These reforms must work, and at a pace.
Despite the United Kingdom spending around £50 billion a year on defense (plus more on Ukraine), the UK Armed Forces require continued investment to be able to fight a long, high-intensity war alongside our allies against an equal adversary," the MPs said.