Dan Sabbagh – The Guardian April 23, 2024
General Walker says the British army needs ‘to double our fighting power in three years and triple by the end of the decade’.
Britain must be prepared to fight a war in three years’ time and double the lethality of its army as the separate threats of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea come to a head, the new chief of the army has warned.
Gen Sir Roly Walker, the chief of the general staff, told reporters that the west faced “an axis of upheaval” with increasing military ambition and that a conflict involving one of the countries could lead to “a significant detonation” in another theatre.
The UK and its allies had to be ready “to deter or fight a war in three years”, he argued – a deliberately stark judgment based on China’s hostility towards Taiwan, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Russia’s militarisation as demonstrated by its invasion of Ukraine.
Walker cited US assessments that China’s president, Xi Jinping, had asked for the country’s military to be ready to invade Taiwan in 2027 – as well as concerns that Iran could seek to break the nuclear deal that is intended to prevent it developing an atomic weapon, while the war in Ukraine is continuing.
In a subsequent speech, Walker said he had “a bold ambition” for the army “to double our fighting power in three years and triple by the end of the decade”, not with extra resources but by using technology and techniques developed on the battlefields of Ukraine, such as drones and artificial intelligence.
Walker did not set out the nature of the global threats in the main body of his address, but in a briefing to reporters he argued that the interdependence between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea was growing, as seen in Ukraine, where Iran and North Korea have supplied weapons and China components to aid Moscow’s military effort.
“The problem is, the ability to manage any one crisis that involves any of those actors becomes much, much harder,” because they are increasingly supporting each other with weapons, components and intelligence, the general said.
Although Russia was embroiled in the war in Ukraine, and on current trends its forces would, Walker said, take “five years to grind their way through” to capturing the eastern Donbas, at a cost of 1.5 million casualties, the country’s history had shown it could bounce back.
In his earlier remarks to reporters, the army chief argued Russia could emerge from its current war with “a sense of wanting retribution for the support that was given to Ukraine” – and could pose a greater medium-term threat than anticipated.
Walker argued that “we are not on an inexorable path to war” but added that “what we do have is an absolute urgency to restore credible hard power in order to underwrite deterrence”, at a time when the Labour government has just begun a strategic defence review after the election.
A week ago, the man leading the review, the former Nato secretary general George Robertson, warned that Britain and its allies were facing a “deadly quartet” of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, suggesting the idea that the four countries were increasingly collaborating was widely shared in security circles.
The new army chief’s comments come at a time when the size of the British army is at its smallest for 300 years, having donated tanks, missiles, artillery and large amounts of ammunition to Ukraine – and will be interpreted by some as a plea for future investment in a service considered in need of modernisation.
While the Labour government has agreed to lift defence spending from the current level of 2.32% of GDP – £64.6bn – to 2.5%, it has not yet committed to a firm timetable. Ministers want to look at the country’s books before deciding what is possible, while the Conservatives previously committed to doing so by 2030.
Hey there Roly Walker the true “axis of upheaval” are your paymasters in Isra-hell, the U.S and the Square Mile in London.
I’m afraid that doubling the “lethality” of a Bwitish military – that’s currently judged to be incapable of lasting more than 3 or 4 days vs Russia – will only give it up to a week before being obliterated…
the blathering of the latest Army Chief-Nitwit, Gen ‘Roly-Poly’ Walker, notwithstanding..
🙄
The British have not got an Army; it exists, but the Jews have it. And there is no Labour government, only a Jewish one, which hates the British. Imagine if we all used words correctly!
The Nazi West perceives this threat, because they are in decline, they are bankrupt, and this is down to City Crime Cartels, and the Wall Street mobs who’ve screwed their own economies in favor of cheaper labour markets with less regulation.
While this decline has been taking place, the Nazis have set about this massive campaign of global hate.
I was talking to a 19yr old ram this morning. He won’t won’t fight, who can blame him.
The Jew is simply cleaning up the mess they’ve made as well as their continuing destruction of the House of Israel (Europeans). Most don’t realise that they are Amalek and Edom, the very people they call Europeans. Anyway, 375 years of pilfering from the UK has left a record that they’re desperate to destroy, hence a great reset, removal of hard cash, digital banking and a social credit scoring system to keep everyone under control.
The only problem is that they’re finding it hard to get people to willingly commit suicide by joining up. Looks like those stubborn brits aren’t going to go out easily (well all of those who haven’t taken the clot shot that is). I think those who are awake would rather fight, at home, against the Russians and Chinese than do anything for the Starmer’s nonse party.
Whatever happens, massive loss of life is on the cards and Mr Hook Nose is terrified that enough people wake up to actually be a serious threat to them. Fire up the ovens and start packing Zyklon B boys! We’ve got a Jew roast on the cards.
how is you send all your crazy militarists in
retirement + dole . superfluous as they are anyway
in our times of mass invasion (not the russians) .
GIVE ARMS ONLY TO THE ENGLISH NATIVES
to defend from jews + invaders ! no tanks, no bombs required .
Just mo rhetoric weally as we must send white children to war as we cosset african to sooth white english female as those migrant are exempt from vax and enlistment…
Wish ye were a Provo there now English, just yet as you wish ye were a Provo on that Bloody Sunday.
Howzyah doin there now Rixon as you have “power” of deletion you silly fellow as one should not topple that top hattie, just not that done thingy ol chappie, jus not that done thingy…
Just fuck you…
Aye…
You are pissing against the wind here now Carl, just pissing against the wind…
The sort of bloke who couldn’t hit a cockroach with a bugspray can.
Meanwhile the west freaks out joint russo-sino jets fly where they want.