British Army's warfighting division depends on manpower, equipment goals yet to be reached: report

Britain's ambition to establish a 40,000-strong warfighting division will not become a reality unless the next government and the Ministry of Defense (MoD) provide funding, manpower, training and equipment, a major report warned Saturday.

The Defense Committee of the House of Commons made its warning as it welcomed the ambition outlined in a Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) to establish a warfighting division able to deploy at speed.

The report said achievement of the new formation is based upon a standing British army of 82,000 regular troops.

"Even though this is an historically low target, the MoD has yet to recruit these numbers. There are also serious doubts about its ability to provide the envisaged 30,000 trained reservists by 2019," said the all-party committee of MPs.

It said appropriate training for the new division is vital for it to be able to counter the threat of a peer adversary.

"Therefore, the MoD must protect, and probably increase, the Army's training budget," added the politicians in their report.

Dr Julian Lewis MP, chair of the committee said: "The creation of a warfighting division is designed to counter the increasing threat of state-on-state conflict identified in the SDSR. No longer are counter-insurgency campaigns top of our agenda. To be a credible force, the division must be fully manned and fully equipped. The MoD's future equipment plans are heavily dependent on identifying and achieving billions of pounds in so-called 'efficiency savings' over the decade ahead. So, while the Army's ambition is laudable, the MoD and the next Government must make it a reality."

"The work of the army is constrained by the fact that defense expenditure has fallen to an unacceptable level in GDP percentage terms. Until the mid-1990s, the UK never spent less than 3 per cent of GDP on defense. Until we accept the need to spend more than the 2 per cent NATO minimum, the timely establishment of the warfighting division, and the attainment of our manpower and equipment goals, cannot be taken for granted," the MP said.

The warfighting division requires an extensive range of new equipment and vehicles, says the report, adding the MoD has announced an impressive equipment program to address the need, but it is not clear whether the funding to pay for it is in place.

The report highlights the decline in the numbers of Challenger 2 main battle tanks and Warrior vehicles available to the army, warning that any further reductions, either due to budgetary pressures or program delays, would be fraught with risk. Endit