Military aid to Ukraine has left gaps in the UK armed forces’ capabailities.
The UK has sent Challenger 2 tanks, millions of rounds of ammunition, and hundreds of boat and land vehicles to help Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
It’s made a difference, with all of the Challengers donated last summer being deployed on the frontlines against Russia’s Soviet-built tanks.
But the £7.6 billion in military aid the government has committed to Ukraine since Russia’s full scale invasion in February 2022 has put a dent in Britain’s stockpiles.
The transfer of nearly all the country’s AS90 mobile artillery units to Ukraine has ‘created a capability gap within how we operate’, armed forces minister Luke Pollard said.
Highlighting the need to replenish stocks, Mr Pollard told journalist in Scotland: ‘That was the right decision, absolutely the right thing to do. But there is a challenge now about what do we do in the interim period.’
Much of the military aid given to Ukraine so far was approved by the previous Conservative government, and backed by Labour while in opposition.
Defence Secretary John Healy signalled an intention to continue this support by meeting his Ukrainian counterpart in Odesa, Ukraine, just 72 hours after celebrating Labour’s electoral victory at a sports hall in South Yorkshire.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other Western leaders may even break from past policy as they weigh up whether to permit Ukraine’s use of weapons they’ve supplied to hit targets within Russia itself.
But the war in Ukraine, depleted stocks and the ‘changing nature of warfare’ have prompted the government to assess the UK’s own military preparedness.
A strategic defence review, expected in the first half of next year, will assess whether stockpiles are being replenished and armed forces capability is at a sufficient level.
Mr Pollard said: ‘I think the British public are by and large aware that the world is a more difficult, contested place at the moment.
‘I think what the defence review will show is how we respond to that as a country and the choices we need to make in terms of right-sizing our forces to get to the fighting force we need to deter an aggressor but defeat one if necessary.’
He added: ‘The challenge to the SDR team is what are the capabilities we need, and then what would be the transition from the capabilities we have today.
‘We haven’t instructed the SDR team to cut, what we have asked them to do is right-size our forces against the capabilities that we need.’
One suggestion to emerge from the review may be the need to ‘invest in further capabilities’ for defending crucial sub-sea cables used to carry electronic data.
This could include additional specialist vessels for this purpose like the high-tech survey and surveillance vessel, RFA Proteus.
Mr Pollard said: ‘We are all dependent on electronic infrastructure for all our daily life, the NHS is dependent on it, air traffic control is dependent on it, financial markets are dependent on it. Everything is dependent on the data flows.
‘And if we can’t assure ourselves those data flows are protected then we would be neglecting a really critical part of our national infrastructure.
‘That is one of the areas where I would expect the SDR to not only identify a risk to us, but also an opportunity to invest in further capabilities.’
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