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A former defense official said the British military was not prepared for any kind of war and would soon find itself short on supplies.
“In any large scale operation, ammunition is going to run out quickly,” Robert Johnson said. Financial Times.
Johnson previously served as Director of Net Assessment and Issues for the Secretary of State. Led The 25-person team will be tasked with wargames and drawing on research, analysis and external think tanks to ensure the UK’s defence capabilities are performing at their “best”.
After leaving office in May, Johnson said the British military was unable to “adequately” defend the UK mainland and was ill-equipped for overseas operations on the scale of the Falklands or Iraq wars.
“Our defences are stretched too thin and we are not prepared to fight and win an armed conflict of any scale,” he told the Financial Times.
The UK is a NATO member and one of Ukraine’s closest allies.
But Johnson said Britain’s air defences were “inadequate” to intercept long-range missile attacks, there were not enough naval vessels to patrol the North Atlantic to monitor and deter Russian submarine activity, and the air force needed nearly twice as many fighter jets.
Johnson told the Financial Times that Britain had also failed to play its global role and deter hostile powers.
“The government is not gaining public confidence about the scale of the threat because it knows it is not prepared,” he said, adding that being honest would not pose a security risk because “Russia already knows this anyway.”
Johnson is Head John F. Kennedy, director of the Centre for the Changing Nature of Warfare at Oxford University, is the latest senior defence official to express concern about Britain’s war readiness.
In February report In a report titled “Ready for War?”, the UK Defence Committee concluded that the UK military is not prepared for a “sustained, intense” war.
Meanwhile, in April Comment Article According to the Telegraph, outgoing Defence Secretary James Heapy said the UK was “well behind” its allies in preparing for war.
Johnson’s assessment was released just days before the UK general election. according to To pollmarks the defeat of the Conservative Party, which had been in power for 14 years, to the Labour Party.
Johnson said the next government should increase defence spending to at least 3% of GDP.
“We have to cut the coat to fit the outfit,” he told the Financial Times.