“The British army makes me want to cry, almost,” McMaster said. “It is a professional, extremely capable army that now lacks the capacity to sustain operations.”
His comments, made during a CEPA press call, came as the British army has shrunk to its smallest size since the Napoleonic era and at a time when the country is seeking to position itself as NATO’s leading European power.
London is cutting its regular army to fewer than 73,000 personnel through 2025, a move that has sparked widespread criticism, especially amid the heightened threat from Russia. The reduction is part of Britain’s Future Soldier strategy, launched in 2021, which seeks to modernize the military to better respond to next-generation threats, while including reserves to maintain an overall force of more than 100,000.
It represents the most radical overhaul of the army in more than two decades but lawmakers have warned that the troop reductions could leave Britain unable to sustain large-scale operations.
The strategy is based on a long-running assumption that it’s possible to achieve security and operate effectively in times of war by cutting troops and instead “investing more and more money in fewer and fewer exquisite systems,” McMaster told reporters. But “the day often really does go to the side with the bigger battalions,” he said, citing Russia’s war in Ukraine as evidence that force size still matters.
“I’m encouraged by the recognition among the British leadership that this is a big problem,” he said. “What to do about it is very much being debated.”
The signs are not all positive. The Labour government says it will raise defense spending incrementally from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP but is awaiting its Strategic Defense Review to report before making a decision on timings. Meanwhile, the media has been flooded with unattributed news stories saying the military and the government, especially the Treasury, are seriously at odds.
Defense ministry officials are known to be extremely worried about the armed forces’ weaknesses. One minister said in December that the army could be completely wiped out in six months of intensive warfare like that seen in Ukraine.
The Financial Times stated on February 13 that some in the government want to ditch the 2.5% commitment, given the country’s strained finances. The military is said to want 3.5% to repair the damage done by 20 years of budget reductions but would, reportedly, accept 2.65%.
It’s likely there will in fact be cuts to the UK defense budget in the near term, the paper said.
And it’s not just Britain. There’s “a real problem in the capacity of armed forces” throughout Europe, McMaster said. Decades of underinvestment have left many of the continent’s militaries struggling to rebuild from post-Cold War cuts and they have lost around 35% of their capability in the past 25 years.
“I use the British army to illustrate,” McMaster said, but “I think the problem across all of our armies, including the US Army, is there’s a real capacity issue.”
He also pointed to inadequate defense spending elsewhere in Europe: “Germany’s declared the zeitenwende, but there hasn’t been enough activity in terms of rebuilding. The armed forces were dismantled in the post-Cold War period, and especially in the 2000s, and [have] really continued in a state of being dismantled.”
While there’s been significant effort to boost the continent’s military spending, some NATO members still fail to meet the alliance’s guideline of allocating 2% of GDP to defense. The strain has been evident in ammunition shortages, outdated equipment, and recruitment challenges – weaknesses laid bare since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The UK remains active in NATO and is currently participating in Exercise Steadfast Dart 25, a major operation running until February 26. Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said it was a demonstration of Britain’s “unshakable commitment” to NATO and Britain’s “key leadership role in the alliance.”
As London prepares its defense and security report, McMaster’s remarks raise questions over the UK’s capacity to back up its NATO ambitions with deeds.
This article is based on a press call organized by the Center for European Policy Analysis and has been summarized by CEPA editorial staff.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
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