In full: Is the army fighting fit?



In a special programme, Sky News asks if the British Army is fighting fit after it was revealed a US general warned it was no longer a top-level fighting force.

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49 thoughts on “In full: Is the army fighting fit?”

  1. @ 8:21, Ben Wallace mentioned investments in tanks and other fighting vehicles, however no mention of troop numbers. The fact is that the government is relying on part timers and trained soldiers now on the reserve list to make up the shortfall in regular troops. Ben Wallace served under a labour government and experienced the cull in troop numbers back then. Now he is in a position to boost those numbers, he still refuses to do so. Britain probably needs 30,000 more regular troops to bring it close to the numbers required to defend the UK and commitments elsewhere.

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  2. The American General was absolutely spot-on! What he meant was not the solders, nor their ability. But the low numbers of them, and lousy equipment. The same can be said of the Royal Navy and the RAF. Underfunded decade upon decade! 🔫⛵🛩

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  3. The navy is a joke with one broken aircraft carrier, 5 unfit for service destroyers and having to 'borrow aircraft and aircrew to equip the remaining carrier. The RAF have shot down more of their own aircraft than enemy combatants since the end of the second world war. Why would the army be any different?

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  4. Can't believe Sky are asking a couple of well dressed office girls about the state of the British Army. Total joke. Maybe ask someone who has some experience in the UK military?

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  5. Off course the US military general says this about the UK armed forces the US has a vassel country to sell weapons to the UK is a vassel of the US like Canada and Australia and Japan and South Korea the UK (England basically) should rejoin the EU and let's build a powerful EU military together in a United States Of Europe 🇪🇺 the EU🇪🇺in the future wont be a vassel of the US🇺🇸 like the future Sovereign isolated England is(and I emphasize England only😁)will be, know ur place on the earth vassel of the US 🇺🇸😁

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  6. 1000s support the armed forces and want our tax money being spent on defence!.

    Looks abit like your trying to pick and choose who supports our forces instead of bringing everyone together.

    There's already 1000s that discuss the armed forces and where tax funding is going..

    Stop letting people in illegally and it'll save billions whilst also taking pressure off the NHS we can't do it all clearly!..

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  7. Of cause no one is talking about the 2300 vehicles the British army received between 2006 and 2012 for the conflicts in Iraq and Afgan the exact time the British army should have been replacing its 2000 odd Warrior , CVR(T) & Bulldog armoured vehicles

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  8. Why if the British army is in as much trouble are we funding and giving Ukraine so much money and weapons.why is it Britain's responsibility to fund Ukraine's army with weapons and training.why is Zelensky being held up as a hero when he clearly hasn't funded or trained a working army for Ukraine at all.in the space of a year hundreds of billions has been spent on giving Ukraine an army not to mention they are also going through NATO supplies as well.all of this and they are not even part of the European Union or NATO.the UK needs to stop spending money on other countries wars and other countries people and start getting there own house in order.🤷🏻‍♀️

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  9. The significant comments was given by Madame Elizabeth Braw…. Britain must act now before it's to late.. Because what the American military general have said, could be an eye opener for the British parliament to move fast, not tomorrow not the next day or the day after it, but today, now!!! ….. Rule Britannia, Britannia Rule the waves!!!! GOD save the Queen…..

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  10. I cannot agree more with the panel, concerning the importance of spending wisely, rather than more. The advantage of bringing in expertise from the private sector cannot be more emphasised. As a Land Rover enthusiast, I have been intrigued by the storey of the Austin Champ. During the years when the Land Rover was being developed by the private sector, the British Army had as a pet project, the development of its own Jeep, the Austin Champ. It was a wonder vehicle which could perform wonderfully under various circumstances, including travelling backwards with as many gears as it could travel forward! It cost the taxpayer huge sums, but ended up a White Elephant. The Land Rover, conceived initially as an agricultural vehicle quietly took its place, at a fraction of the cost.

    This is, incidentally, a view from South Africa, where it may be of some comfort to the British, to know that our military has recently been described as a "militia"! Having regard to the usual purpose of African armies, it is of some comfort, to some of us too!

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  11. But as we are finding out in Ukraine the US army is in no better position than the UK army. On its own the US army would only have enough ammunition to fight a conventional war against Russia for one month before it had to tap out.

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  12. I served in UKAF for 24 years. Politicians cut funds and leave it to senior officers to justify it to the people at the coal face.
    Much the same as the NHS.

    It was so frustrating watching bureaucracy replace operational effective decision making by subject matter experts.

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  13. It’s cuz most nato countries think we can defend them but the fact is the USA can’t fight everyone at once… we made nato to be safe and have Allies not to protect everyone ourselves blows my mind that them sending 13 tanks makes them vulnerable…. Shows how weak they are… sick of paying taxes for countries who don’t even defend themselves… Britain has amazing soldiers but what can they do with ammo

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  14. When are people going to wake the f up. All this money is colected in tax and yet there is no money for defence, police, nhs and teachers. Where has all the money gone then. They tell us that they have spent the most but there is nothing to show. It is all diverted to line pockets and thats why they dont want to pay better wages. Sad fact is that it doesn't matter which puppet we have as PM, we will end up with the same result.

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