via Washington Times
Veterans Minister Alistair Carns startled Britons in 2024 with the revelation that analysts suspect the British army would likely be annihilated after six months of the kind of high-intensity combat on the battlefields of Ukraine.
Earlier that same year, lawmaker Luke Akehurst told a parliamentary committee that the only missile defense available to London is to moor one of the country’s handful of air defense destroyers in the Thames.
Britain’s last two tests of its Trident submarine-based nuclear missiles failed.
British forces are well trained, yet they are served by recruitment and procurement mechanisms that look unfit for purpose.
London’s military obviously cannot compete with Washington’s in scale, but even European peers France and Italy exceed Britain in virtually every metric.
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The military website Global Firepower shows that France (population 68.3 million) fields 264,000 active service personnel, and Italy (population 60.9 million) has 165,000. Britain, despite having a larger population (68.4 million), fields just 141,333.
In naval strength, Italy deploys 17 surface escorts, France 16 and Britain 13. Italy and Britain each field two aircraft carriers. France has one but also boasts three helicopter carriers. For perspective, the U.S. has 11 aircraft carriers.
In terms of air forces, France flies 974 airframes, Italy 714 and Britain 625.
Despite these shortfalls, Britain has a higher 2026 defense budget, $88 billion, than either France — which, like Britain, is nuclear-armed — at $67 billion, or Italy at $37 billion.
The Brits are in serious trouble. I hope they can recover. Its hard to look at what the Poles have done and compare it to the troubles that the Brits are going thru and feel hopeful.
A once proud military nation that punched above its weight is declining fast.
