Junior soldiers take part in their graduation parade at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, England, August 8, 2024
The British military does not have enough troops to fight a modern war and is "unprepared" for a potential conflict with Russia, a report compiled by the House of Lords has concluded. The report is the latest in a long line of publications and statements casting doubt on Britain's ability to engage in warfare.
The British Army currently fields 72,500 active-duty troops, down from a peak of more than 163,000 in the early 1980s. This downsizing was deliberate, and was based on the belief that "the use of advanced technology" would compensate for fewer personnel in uniform, the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee stated in a report published on Thursday.
"The war in Ukraine, however, has shown that in a conflict between two technologically capable states, technology is not a magic bullet that can swiftly end a war," the report warned. Sheer numbers still matter, and despite the use of drones and electronic warfare, whichever side fields "small, lean, boutique forces" will find that these forces "get chewed up over time," the committee wrote.
Comment: 70000 thousand soldiers is roughly equal to the Ukrainian losses per week in Ukraine according to Russian MOD weekly/monthly reports.
Comment: Monty Python didn't think much of the British army and that was decades ago:
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