General Sir Roland Walker, Chief of the General Staff and the head of the British Army, said that Britain must be ready to fight a war in three years. He also assessed we are living in an „increasingly volatile” world. However, the General said that the coming war threat is not inevitable and the army still has time to prepare and avoid conflict. 

Gen. Sir Roland Walker gave his speech as head of the British Army at the Royal United Services Institute land warfare conference, describing major defence and security concerns for the country.

The UK Army’s head said that the most important task for the British armed forces is now “doubling the Army’s fighting power by 2027” and “tripling it by the end of the decade”.

General pointed out that Britain is endangered by the so-called “axis of upheaval”. In his speech he referred to the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Chinese plans for invading Taiwan and the Iranian nuclear weapons programme. 

He underlined the Russian threat and talked about the country’s anger over the Western aid for Ukraine:

“It doesn’t matter how it ends. I think Russia will emerge from it probably weaker objectively – or absolutely – but still very, very dangerous and wanting some form of retribution for what we have done to help Ukraine,” General Walker said. 

General warned that the countries of the axis had created a „mutual transactional relationship” based on weapons and technology exchange and could challenge the West in the next 3 years. He also said that Britain must work on its deterrence potential, especially by developing credible and large land forces 

The British Regular Army numbers 75,325 members of the military personnel. According to Defence Secretary John Healey, the new government plans to introduce changes and reform to the armed forces so that „procurement waste and neglected morale cannot continue„.

Tomasz Maciejewski

Photo: X @BritishArmy