European defence spending went up by an impressive-sounding 13% last year, according to SIPRI, a think-tank; but around two-thirds of that was eaten up by inflation, and the number also includes Russia and Ukraine
to the army have called into question its ability to field even one heavy division in a conflict involvingAt just 76,000 strong and with further cuts in the pipeline, the army is the smallest it has been since the Napoleonic era. The army is also having to manage withand will not get new ones for years because of successive procurement disasters that have cost billions. The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, a former army officer, describes his forces as “hollowed out”.
The army’s lack of claws is a reflection of how the British defence budget has been skewed away from the contingencies of a European land war and towards “out of area” expeditionary operations. Two large aircraft carriers have recently come into service, and they need both escorts and a version of theThe other big drain on the British budget is the modernisation of the nuclear deterrent.
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