Britain's armed forces will not be able to protect the country in the event of a serious threat, said a former senior official of the Ministry of Defense, Rob Johnson, who conducted an assessment of the country's military strength. He noted that the British Armed Forces "cannot adequately protect the country" and are not ready for a conflict of any scale.
According to Johnson's assessment, the British Armed Forces operate with "limited capabilities", which allow only peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat zone and some anti-sabotage measures.
"In any larger operation, we will quickly run out of ammunition ... Our defenses are too weak, and we are not prepared to fight and win an armed conflict of any scale," Johnson said. He also said the country's air defenses are "inadequate" to stop long-range missile strikes, the Royal Navy lacks ships to patrol the North Atlantic to monitor and deter Russian submarine activity, and the Royal Air Force needs almost twice as many fighter jets as they have now.
Johnson called on the next government to increase defense spending to 3% of gross domestic product "as a minimum". This level, equivalent to nearly £80 billion a year, would put the UK on par with the US, Poland and the Baltic states. He added that these costs will allow to modernize the nuclear deterrent forces and have an army "armed and equipped for the conflicts of the 21st century".
The Royal Air Force should be equipped with 265 fighter jets, he said, compared to the 137 Typhoon jets and fewer than three dozen F-35 fighter jets currently in service.
Johnson also noted that the Royal Navy needs 25 modern warships, compared to the two aircraft carriers, six destroyers and 11 frigates it currently has. Meanwhile, the army should be expanded to 125,000 servicemen and equipped with "a large number of long-range artillery and long-range means", including drones.
