The British Army has a new focus and outdated equipment
Its top general sets his sights on Russia. But his forces desperately need investment
In 1905 britain’s new secretary of state for war, Richard Haldane, asked a deceptively simple question: “What is the army for?” The guerrilla fighting of the Boer war was over; trouble loomed in Europe. Haldane built an expeditionary force that was thrown into France less than a decade later. Now, with the army in the throes of another identity crisis, its top general wants to settle that question anew.
On June 28th General Sir Patrick Sanders, who earlier that month had become chief of the general staff (the head of the army, one rung below the chief of the defence staff, who oversees all three services), addressed the Royal United Services Institute (rusi), a think-tank in London. “This is our 1937 moment,” he said, pointing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “From now the army will have a singular focus—to mobilise to meet today’s threat and thereby prevent war in Europe.” The process will be known as Operation mobilise.
Britain July 16th 2022
- The Conservative Party after Boris Johnson
- Conservative candidates reveal “the British dream”
- Boris Johnson still has plans for his last weeks in office
- Britain is ageing slower than other countries, and in a good way
- The British Army has a new focus and outdated equipment
- Shakespeare and the revival of Prescot
- Britain’s prime minister becomes a rotten presidency
From the July 16th 2022 edition
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