More investments in cyber, space, and fewer ground troops, this is broadly the program presented by the English Minister of Defense, Ben Wallace, on the occasion of the publication, Monday March 22, of an official document – known as “Defense Command Paper” – sweeping all the means and projects of the British army for the years to come. A shift assumed, which says it takes into account the new threats, the necessary modernization of equipment, but also the budgetary limits of a country threatened by one of the most brutal recessions in Europe due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The complete analysis of this 70-page document will, like all military reviews of this type, take several weeks for specialized observers and the headquarters of the many countries potentially affected by its repercussions. Especially since it follows the “Integrated Review”, another strategic publication released on March 16, a sort of compass for post-Brexit UK foreign policy. During the presentation of this previous document, the government of Boris Johnson caused much ink to flow by announcing an upward revision of the cap on the stockpile of nuclear warheads.
It is in this context that the British executive this time launched, Monday, in the announcement of the reduction of its land army. By 2025, its workforce, which is now 76,000 full-time, should experience a loss of 3,500 men, and thus reach the minimum threshold of 72,500, according to this new “Defense Command Paper”. To do this, the army will be strongly reorganized in order to become “More self-sufficient”. She will count “Fewer logistics units”, fewer doctors, mechanics and electricians, assures the document presented.
New nuclear warheads
On the other hand, the cyber sector, with an announced budget of 500 million pounds sterling (580 million euros), the space sector (more than 5 billion over ten years), and generally all the technologies allowing to face the new hybrid threats appear to be the big winners in this redefinition of British military ambitions. The navy also benefits from a detailed program of projects for the “Rebirth” of the naval industry with the aim, in particular, of making it more operational in the Indo-Pacific region, which the British, like all the great military powers, have in their sights because of Chinese expansionism.
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