UK defence chief vows to triple combat power but shuns conscription | British Army

The head of Britain’s armed forces has pledged the army will triple its lethality by the end of the decade, but he abandoned the idea of ​​endorsing conscription in his first speech since the general election.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, said the British military could justify additional investment if its effectiveness improved, but he stopped short of asking for more money as Labour ministers scrutinised the public finances.

He said the military was “focused on doubling the combat power of the ground forces by 2027 and tripling it by the end of the decade”, saying politicians would respond if the ground forces could do more for less.

Labour has begun a strategic review of its defence after the general election, at a time when the size of the British military is at its lowest level in 300 years and there are calls to increase defence spending in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The government has agreed to increase defence spending from the current level of 2.32% of GDP (£64.6bn) to 2.5%, but has not yet set a precise timetable. Ministers want to examine the country’s accounts before deciding what is possible.

“Policy responds to the positive reasons for investment,” Radakin told the Land Warfare conference, and argued that “ambition grows” as the military is able to “make the case for a stronger, more capable military.”

Radakin stopped short of calling for a return to national service, a surprise election promise made by the defeated Conservatives, and said Britain’s national security did not depend on an army expanded by young conscripts.

“Poland will double the size of its army in the next decade. The Baltic and Nordic states are talking about mass resilience and conscription. This is understandable. They border Russia. The threat is close. Our geography is different,” Radakin said.

In January, the then chief of the general staff, Patrick Sanders, suggested that some form of conscription to create a Nordic-style citizen army might be necessary, arguing that the UK was in a “pre-war” period.

Sanders has since retired from the army and his successor, Sir Roly Walker, and Radakin are carefully aligning the army’s ambitions with those of Labour. The party has dismissed Sunak’s national service plan as an election ploy.

The full-time army strength has fallen below the previous government’s target of 73,000, while significant quantities of ammunition and equipment have been donated to Ukraine.

Radakin said the military had “short-term financial challenges to overcome”. There had been “historic underinvestment” and there were “deficiencies in personnel, equipment, stocks, training and technology”.

Military leaders say the combined threat from Russia – even as it is embroiled in a costly war in Ukraine – China and possibly Iran and North Korea is growing and will become more acute by 2027 or 2028.

It is not yet clear how the increased lethality will be measured, but the military believes it can make better use of armed drones – a mainstay of the battlefields in eastern Ukraine – and deploy advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence.

At the same time, the Ukrainian military has made effective use of weapons that the UK and other NATO countries are withdrawing, raising questions about whether older munitions are becoming obsolete too quickly.

Radakin said it was important not to exaggerate the threat posed by Russia, and repeated a Ukrainian figure: the invaders had lost 550,000 fighters killed or wounded since the invasion began in February 2022.

“It would take Putin five years to rebuild the Russian military to where it was in February 2022,” Radakin said, “and another five years beyond that to correct the weaknesses that the war has exposed.”