Yesterday at 23:53
The Deputy Chief of Defence Staff ackowledges the fact the UK would lack resources to resist Russian aggression for more than 2 months.
“We’ve been very clear that the amount of money we’re spending on munitions at the moment … which is significant … does not meet, in all areas, the threats that we face,” Lt Gen Sir Rob Magowan, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, said during the Commons defence committee after he was asked whether the UK was able to “fight Putin for more than a couple of months in a full-on shooting war”.
He also emphasized on the need of improving air missile defence and spending more money specifically on it.
Previously, the Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps asked Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer of the UK, to increasing next year’s defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP instead of the current 2.2 per cent.
“This will resonate with our allies and adversaries. It would re-establish our leadership in Europe,” wrote Shapps in a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, according to The Telegraph.
However, Grant Shapps pointed out that the UK would have the support of NATO allies, so scenarios about UK-Russia war are unrealistic.
“For people watching, and hearing that the UK isn’t ready for war exclusively with Russia, it’s important to understand that because we are in Nato and [mutual defence agreement] Article 5 exists, we would never be in that situation,” said Shapps.
Read also: US will fulfill its NATO obligations — Pentagon on Russian missile incident
