UK must be ready for war within three years, head of British Army warns | UK News | Sky News

23 comments

1. Alternative headline: head of British army would like more funding. 

2. Interview with the Head of the British Army (Major Brent)

   So what’s happening in the army then?

   Really busy. Lots to do.

   Oh yeah? What kind of things?

   You know, war and stuff.

   A war!?

   Yep. Well not now but eh you know. It’s going to be really big. Big plans.

3. Fairly candid statement by a CGS, they usually retire before making those kinds of comments.

   He isn’t wrong, and the military as a whole has been hollowed out significantly in the last 10-20 years.

4. Fucking wild that people can see Russia invading Ukraine, China prepping to invade Taiwan, Iran firing missiles into Israel, and the US about to elect a guy who wants to disband NATO, and think that the UK doesn’t need a standing army, and doesn’t need to properly fund its military. Fucking insane.

5. my initial reaction to this is arent we already at war?

6. Luckily we have had thousands of fighting age men join our tiny country. We will be fine.

7. Within the fucking hour more like. We are already at war FFS, Russia is not under the impression it’s not at war with the west, that is for sure.

8. Even if it never comes to war, we are damaged by it. Billions upon billions diverted to produce weapons whose only purpose, we hope, is their existence, never to be used. Money that could be used to create a better life and a better future, just utterly wasted for a few people’s hubris.

9. One minute we are told Russia is about to invade Eastern Europe now that we need to be ready for war in 3 years…its just another example of the inconsistent messaging around this war and defence sector. We simply need to decide what sort of military we need. Until then we’ll keep having an armed force that tries to do everything but struggles to do anything

10. Good job Starmer is putting off raising the Defence budget then

11. I could knock out a hundred reasons why it won’t happen but they’re all theoretical. Things could change in the blink of an eye and we could all be at war again real quick. Politics in the next few yrs will be very telling. If Trump wins and a few more right wing govts come to power in Europe we’ll be closer to a European war than we have been for the last 75 years. Iran will be in the heart of it if it does happen and pre-emptive strikes against Iran and North Korea will almost certainly be necessary to avoid it.

12. *sigh* as an 18 year old who just wants to get on with his life without fear of anything to do with massive conflicts or whatever, these headlines are nauseating and frighten me a lot

13. Who would willingly want to sign up and fight for this country these days

14. Best i can do is increasing recruitment crisis and money squandered on capabilities we dont actually want to finance appropriately.

15. We need more diplomats talking and less generals/politicians wanting to leave their legacy.

    Most of the common citizen of all the countries just wants peace. So obey the will of the majority.

16. Hahaha no.

    As someone who has seen the state of RAF infrastructure (aka the people who literally get everyone and everything where they need to be), we are not ready. We are actually becoming less ready each year as manning dwindles and the equipment, which was all ancient in the 70s when it came into use, continues to erode. The entire military’s ability to wage war is dependent on a crumbling aircraft hangar in the Oxfordshire countryside and it is in a really bad state. There is simply no money going into infrastructure.

17. This isn’t him saying we are definitely heading for war. It is saying that the peace dividend has now ran out because Russia, China and Iran, countries that have been or are becoming antagonistic are moving from being a challenge to a potential threat. China has been expanding its territorial claims in the South China Sea using artificial islands, while it bullies boats from Vietnam and the Philippines because it can.

    Russia has annexed territory from both Georgia and Ukraine, is currently in war with Ukraine, has orchestated wide-spread hacking and shady money designed to undermine Western democracies, and poisoned at least three people on UK soil (Alexander Litvinenko, and Sergei and Yulia Skripal). Countries that border Russia feel increasingly the need to be a part of NATO, which shows the way the world is changing. We are heading for a second Cold War.

18. Who’s hyped to die in a Ukrainian ditch for 22k a year.

19. Putin might not even last three years. He reportedly has health issues, and probably no shortage of internal enemies.

20. The UK has to become self sufficient, in all ways not just militarily. The world is becoming increasingly unstable.

21. When I was 18, I had really considered joining the military. But then I realised I could only join if I became a British citizen, and the Home Office charges a shit ton of money just to apply. When I had checked back then, it was something like £1,300 to apply + the extra money to do the tests etc. I know if I applied I would likely succeed, but the amount of money put me off. And it left a bad feeling that if I wanted to be eligible to join the military, I had to pay the Home Office a grand first. It put me off joining the military completely

    I’m 22, I’ve lived in England before I was even a year old. But I am unable to join the military since I am not a British/Irish/Commonwealth citizen.

    I just think it’s stupid that over these years, I constantly read about how the military isn’t getting enough recruitment etc, but the UK won’t allow me to join despite the permanent residency I have had for 20+ years. Why not do it like the US does if you need people for the military so much? The US has no issue in allowing green card holders to join the military

    Edit: Out of curiosity, I checked how much the Home Office charges. It’s now £1600! Yeah, I have to give the government £1,600 if I want to join the military, nah I’m good

22. I wonder if the head of the army has a vested interest

23. All the money we spend on military and we aren’t ready for war? What??? What are they ready for then?