During an Army Restructuring debate in the House of Commons on November 25th, the Members of Parliament discussed the Future Soldier programme. The programme is supposed to lead to the most radical restructuring of the UK’s Army in the past two decades. In the upcoming ten years, the Army will receive an additional £8.6-billion for military equipment, bringing the total equipment investment to £41.3-billion. Additional investment will be provided to strengthen the infrastructure, train new and current staff, and increase technological capabilities. As a result, the UK hopes to emerge as a globally influential military force.
Military pressure from the Eastern flank
Military pressure from Russia at the Ukrainian border and the instrumentalisation of migrants at the Belarusian border led to the strengthening of the NATO forces that protect the Eastern flank. According to a statement by the Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, “more than 800 British soldiers are currently stationed there as part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence, with collective forces across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.”
“There are multiple fires around the world where such forces could lead or join alliances as we do in Mali, such as in Yemen, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Lebanon as well as, indeed, closer to home in Poland and Ukraine.” (Mr Tobias Ellwood, House of Commons Debate 25.11.21).
Tobias Ellwood, the Chairperson of the Defence Committee, referred to the recent crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border as an argument for increasing the military capacity of the United Kingdom. In fact, the British Army was deployed earlier in November to support the Polish forces at the border.
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During the Army Restructuring debate, Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, commented: “I was in Poland last week watching the United Kingdom forces doing a live-firing exercise in Poland alongside Polish, the United States and Croatian forces. That is what I want our Army to do.” (Ben Wallace, House of Commons Debate 25.11.21).
The Secretary of State for Defence highlighted the necessity of establishing a flexible and rewarding system in which soldiers have the chance to move across infantry divisions. In this context, Ben Wallace outlined the Future Soldier plan, which sets out to make the British Army a more exciting job prospect for young people.
What does the Future Soldiers programme entail?
In his statement before the House of Commons, Ben Wallace mentioned six main aspects of the Future Soldier programme:
- The Army will be more engaged in global missions, with more soldiers sent abroad for extended periods. Based on current training locations, new regional hubs will be established to accommodate this goal.
- Great Britain sets out to significantly contribute to NATO warfighting. With this in mind, a modernised warfighting division will be developed by 2030.
- The British Army will benefit from enhanced military equipment. Some of the proposed investments include modernising tanks and digital network armoured vehicles. Moreover, a broad range of new abilities will be developed, especially cyber and electromagnetic technology. The plan also proposes further developments of long-range precision strike capabilities.
- State of the art technology will be developed thanks to substantive investment in Research & Development. In the upcoming year, the government hopes to open a new British Army BattleLab and establish army trials and experimentation group.
- The programme hopes to promote communication between the government and the military forces. To that end, it aims to integrate civil servants in the military structures and establish cross-functioning strategic units.
- The United Kingdom sets out to establish a Land Industrial Strategy for the combat system. The strategy will help create new jobs across many national regions through new investment in military capability. The introduction of new land combat systems, such as Ajax or Boxer, is expected to increase export sales and the market share in the sector.
In early 2022, the Ministry of Defense will publish a revised Army People Plan, explaining strategic objectives for increasing the potential of Army members. The government set out to create an empowering and modern culture with plenty of possibilities for developing new skills.
Author: Marta Kąkol
Main picture: pexels.com
