Britain is in danger of having hollowed out armed forces with “exquisite” equipment but without the soldiers, sailors and airmen needed to man it the UK’s most senior military officer has warned.
General Sir Nicholas Houghton, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said that while the future budget for the forces equipment was guaranteed, military manpower was increasingly seen as an “overhead”.
He told the Royal United Services Institute military thinktank the result was that activity and training levels were being “squeezed” while the Royal Navy was “perilously close” to its “critical mass” in terms of manpower.
“Whilst exquisite tech-nology has been protected as the key to operational superiority, manpower has been seen as more of an overhead,” he said.
“Unattended, our current course leads to a strategically incoherent force structure exquisite equipment, but insufficient resources to man that equipment or train. It is what the Americans call the spectre of the ‘hollow force’.
“We are not there yet, but across defence I would identify the Royal Navy as being perilously close to its critical mass in manpower terms.”
After the speech, the head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, took the unusual step of issuing a statement acknowledging that his service was under “significant manpower pressure” but insisting it would not “throw us off track”.
Sir Nicholas’ speech echoes concerns among some in the military that manpower cuts since the Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010 have gone too far.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman said: “We will continue to ensure that our armed forces are well-funded and properly equipped.”
Asked whether the Government would also ensure that the armed forces were properly manned, he said: “Of course.”