Britain needs another brigade
When the Coalition took its decisions on the size and shape of the Armed Forces at the time of its Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2010, it did so in the midst of an economic crisis. A decision was taken to prioritise equipment over manpower, not unreasonably given the long lead times in defence procurement and the need to preserve British jobs in the industry.
But, to balance the books, manpower reductions of 30,000 personnel across the three Services were required, which inevitably would fall most heavily on the Army. The mitigation of the risks inherent in a 20,000 cut in regular Army manpower would be the recruitment and training of a Reserve of 30,000, giving an overall integrated Army manpower strength of 112,000.… Seguir leyendo »