British Defence is being outclassed by France despite the UK’s efforts to dig deeper in the Treasury’s pockets. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned on Wednesday that the war in Ukraine has exposed the vulnerability of Europe’s defences in the face of an aggressor.
He said forces across the continent were paying the price for years of “hollowing out” that has seen ammunition stocks depleted, readiness levels reduced and essential maintenance neglected.
But according to the latest military balance report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), despite Britain’s being the second biggest NATO’s defence spender, behind the US, France now has more aircraft, more troops and more frigates than the UK.
French forces count a whopping 203,250 personnel compared to 150,350 in Britain.
Britain has more tanks but plans to reduce Challenger 3s tanks will see France surpassing the UK on this front too.
An IISS’s senior fellow told The Times: “France and Germany have militaries that are in some respects larger.
“The UK has a pretty capable navy and air force. Across its forces, it’s also well-balanced between combat support [and] logistics in a way that not many other expeditionary armed forces are.
“But they’re now very, very small, and they can’t be in two places at once.”
He continued: “Ukraine poses uncomfortable questions in terms of the size of the British stockpiles of spare parts and ammunition and its ability to sustain a high intensity of combat. It also poses uncomfortable questions for the army, which is much less modernised than the navy or the air force.
“I’d say the jury’s out. If the plans the MoD has come to fruition, some of these deficits will be tackled but not all whether they’ll be tackled quickly enough, that’s an open question.”
On Wednesday, Mr Wallace said that at a time that the world was becoming “much more dangerous and unstable” it underlined the need for a long-term increase in the defence budget.
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“Maintenance, ship lifts, all sorts of things that you and I don’t think are that exciting but are nevertheless really, really important.”
His comments come amid a reported row with the Treasury ahead of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Budget next month, with Mr Wallace reportedly pressing for a £10billion uplift in defence spending.
Mr Wallace acknowledged that he faced an “uphill battle” but denied that he was threatening to resign if he did not get a satisfactory settlement.
He told Sky News: “It’s always an uphill battle with the Treasury, no matter what department you’re in.
“But this is not about resigning or anything else: it’s about delivering defence to meet the threat.”
The Defence Secretary said the war in Ukraine had left the Russian army in a “dire state” with its combat effectiveness depleted by 40 percent.
However he warned that President Vladimir Putin still posed a potential threat to European security that Nato had to be prepared to counter.
