UK defense chief says operations to be 'dialed back' without additional spending - Breaking Defense

F-35B Lightning jets launching from the flight deck of HMS Prince of Wales (UK MoD).

BELFAST — The UK’s most senior uniformed official gave a warning to lawmakers today that future military operations will be reduced if extra funding is not approved by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Treasury to support the Ministry of Defence.

Richard Knighton, chief of the UK defense staff, told a House of Lords committee that he is “most concerned” about day-to-day operations budgeting, which falls under a Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (RDEL) account.

“Without changes to the settlement that, as [former Defense Secretary] John Healey set out” then operations, training and exercising “will come under pressure,” Knighton said.

Healey resigned from his post last week, amid a row over a defense funding plan, which he viewed as insufficient, and said “could make the country less safe.”