Former General slams Britain’s Armed Forces and says country is vulnerable to attack from Putin’s Russia
Sir Richard Barrons made the claims in a memo to Defence Minister Michael Fallon
BRITAIN's Armed Forces would be unable to protect the country against a full-scale attack from Russia, according to the former head of the Joint Forces Command.
General Sir Richard Barrons, who retired in April this year, has slammed the Ministry of Defence for “skinning” budgets and highlighted Vladimir Putin’s resurgent former superpower as a potential threat to the country.
In a memo to Defence Minister Michael Fallon, seen by the FT, Sir Richard said the MoD has worked to "preserve the shop window" but the Armed Forces' capability had been "withered by design".
He said: "There is a sense that modern conflict is ordained to be only as small and as short term as we want to afford - and that is absurd.
"The failure to come to terms with this will not matter at all if we are lucky in the way the world happens to turn out but it could matter a very great deal if even a few of the risks now at large conspire against the UK.
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"UK air defence now consists of the (working) Type 45 (destroyers), enough ground-based air defence to protect roughly Whitehall only, and RAF fast jets.
"Neither the UK homeland nor a deployed force - let alone both concurrently - could be protected from a concerted Russian air effort."
Sir Richard warned that the UK’s military is too reliant on small numbers of expensive equipment, such as new aircraft carriers, which "we cannot afford to use fully, damage or lose".
His stinging claims come a day after the MoD announced that it is finalising a £30m deal to develop a hi-tech laser weapon.
In a statement, the MoD said: "Our defence review last year put in place a plan for more ships, planes and troops at readiness.
"That plan was backed by a rising defence budget.
"And, crucially, it was backed by all of the service chiefs."
Theresa May’s Government's recently announced plans to increase spending by nearly £5bn by 2020/21 and to meet NATO's target to spend 2% of GDP on defence for the rest of the decade.
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