Adapt or Die

MIRZOKHID MIRAKHMEDOV - YEAR 12

In ten days from the outbreak of war, the Russian Army advanced almost 85km from the Belarus-Ukraine border, and captured Hostomel Oblast, less than an hour away from Kyiv city centre. On the other side of the continent, the British Army was projected by John Spellar to entirely deplete its ammunition reserves after a mere ten days of all-out, large-scale conflict. Yes, the armed forces is no longer the empire-building giant it was in the early 20th and 19th centuries, however it is plain to see just from this statistic alone that our armed forces are woefully inadequate for any large-scale kinetic operation. This is especially relevant in light of current talks for a potential European peacekeeping force to be deployed to Ukraine as part of a post-war peace settlement, with Britain expected to be one of the major contributors towards this “coalition of the willing”, as it has been in Iraq, and as it has been in Afghanistan. That is not all – the armed forces have totally failed to meet recruitment targets since 2010, near the height of the War in Afghanistan. This is not helped by delays in the recruitment process causing 74,000 of 137,000 applicants to the British Armed Forces to voluntarily withdraw their applications due to lengthy delays. This accompanied by a poll showing a mere 14% of 18-24 year olds would fight for the UK in the event of the outbreak of a third world war, paints a bleak picture for the local armed forces recruiter. Not only is Britain unable to man their rifles and artillery guns, but even if they could, they could only use them for less than two weeks. Furthermore, the UK’s current state of equipment is in dire need of modernisation. Even in Afghanistan, when our troops were better-funded, and our army more fully manned, men were being sent to Taliban death traps wearing incorrect camouflage. Although a  seemingly minor detail, this meant that they were easier targets for jihadist and Taliban snipers,
sticking out like a sore thumb against the desert backdrop of Iraq and Afghanistan.  The isolationist view that defence spending and economic growth are mutually exclusive is entirely wrong – UK defence spending in the 2023/24 financial year supported 1 in 60 jobs across the UK. When you step on a bus, at least one person there is employed because of defence spending, whether it be directly wearing our flag on their uniform, or indirectly as a defence contractor working to keep our forces supplied, for an imminent turbulent future. The world is slipping from post-WW2 transatlantic co operation back to “might is right”. The British Armed Forces must radically expand and modernise, or risk being a minor speedbump for Russia, bloodied by the bodies thousands of our brave men and women. A mere 0.2% extra will not do that. Defence spending must go up higher, and now.