Britain is operating a “Swiss cheese” military which urgently needs to close gaps in its capabilities – ranging from threadbare munitions stockpiles to rebuilding the Royal Navy – if it is to be able to confront Vladimir Putin by 2030 and beyond, according to defence insiders.
In his incendiary resignation letter, outgoing defence secretary John Healey force-fed Sir Keir Starmer his own words by citing a warning delivered this month by the Prime Minister that Russia could attack NATO “as soon as 2030”. It is a doomsday deadline, which Healey strongly implied the UK was in danger of not being able to meet.
The details of the troubled and troublesome Defence Investment Plan (DIP), the 10-year blueprint which will outline what and how the UK intends to spend to overhaul the armed forces, remain under wraps as wrangling continues at the highest levels of Whitehall over just what the UK needs to protect itself and what it can afford to do so. In the meantime, Washington is pressing ahead with reducing the US military presence in Europe.
Experts and insiders have outlined a list of priorities, and delayed projects in pressing need of a green light, which they say are vital if Britain is to be able to offer a coherent – rather than what one defence source described as a “dangerously piecemeal” – response to the threat posed by a bellicose Russia.
