In Great Britain, they declared the impossibility of defeating the “Russians” in a tank war.
As follows from a military report prepared by the Defense Committee of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, in the current situation the British ground forces are not ready to confront Russia. Improvement of the situation should not be expected in the coming years either, the reason for which is already morally and physically outdated equipment.
“If the British army in the next few years had to fight an equal adversary, which means Russia, in Eastern Europe, our soldiers, certainly remaining one of the best in the world, to our deep shame would be forced to fight using outdated armored vehicles. Many of these machines for more than 30 years, they have a very low mechanical reliability and firepower. They very seriously lose from modern artillery and missile systems.
From the MPs’ point of view, the British Ministry of Defense and the military leadership knew that the number of military equipment needed to be updated, but the broken modernization program made them obsolete.
This affects the overall potential and combat strength of the army, “especially when it comes to fighting a potential peer rival like Russia” – the authors of the report concluded.
Since the end of the Cold War, the fleet of British military vehicles has steadily decreased, while Russia is developing the world’s most modern new-generation super-tank, the documents say. re-produced on a large scale.
Parliamentarians noted the latest Russian T-14 “Armata” tank and asked for an improved armor cover for other tanks. The British Challenger-2 tank, they argued, was incapable of dealing with “this new threat”, while British tanks were inferior to the military vehicles of their NATO allies.
Report citing analysis by Brigadier General Ben Barry. He concluded quite sadly that a special division with a reduced number (a lack of division) that the country’s authorities thought should be established by 2025, would also “not be able to win over a division. modern Russian armor, which is sure to be surpassed ”.
Before that, the British Army’s strength was also complained of being too weak when the number was small, the tank-armored vehicles were few (about 600 units) and not modernized. Even in August 2020, the British Ministry of Defense is considering the possibility of completely eliminating the tank under the armed force modernization program.
Such plans are under consideration due to the high cost of modernizing the 227 Challenger-2 and 388 Warrior infantry armored vehicles currently in use by the British Army, according to the Times. said that this type of vehicle is too out of date.
The British Ministry of Defense argued that tanks and armored vehicles were obsolete in the new age, while the constantly changing nature of combat methods and methods required a larger investment in cyber weapons. , space technologies and other advanced technologies.
From the above point of view, it is clear that the British army is falling further and further behind the other armies.