By Elishya Perera
LONDON (CU)_The British government unveiled plans to cut the size of the country’s armed forces and to expand spending on a new “cyber force” including drones and robots.
Announcing the government’s new defence plans on Monday (22 March), Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the number of soldiers in the British Army will be reduced from 76,500 to 72,500 by 2025, while investments on infrastructure and technology will be expanded.
He said this would mean the military would no longer be “overstretched and underequipped”.
With just 72,500 regular soldiers, the size of the British Army will be at its smallest since 1714. The Defence Secretary claimed that while it is tempting to protect “outdated capabilities” by using the “shield of sentimentality”, however doing so would put lives at risk.
The changes announced on Monday also includes an investment of £3bn for drones, electronic warfare, long-range rocket systems and cyber capabilities.
According to Wallace, this boost in spending on technology and infrastructure marks a shift “from mass mobilization to information age speed, readiness and relevance” which would enable the armed forces to confront “threats of the future”.
He noted that “increased deploy ability and technological advantage” would mean that greater effect could be delivered by fewer people.
Following the announcement on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the reforms would enable the military to make themselves all the more useful, all the more lethal, and effective around the world. “Therefore, all the more valuable to our allies, and all the more deterring to our foes,” he added.
After the United States, Britain is the second-biggest military spender in NATO, and in November, the government announced an expansion of £16.5 billion ($23 billion) in defence spending over the next four years. These funds will be directed towards space and cyber battlefields, instead of traditional resources such as army troops.
