Warfighting readiness of UK's armed forces is insufficient for an

London/Moscow – A parliamentary committee has alleged that the capabilities of the UK’s armed forces are under great pressure, and the UK is not prepared for an all-out and prolonged war. British armed forces are facing a shortage of troops and weapons, and these problems are being hidden in the name of secrecy, a new report of the Defense Committee of the House of Commons has alleged. While the parliamentary committee report is being released, news has also emerged that the UK’s advanced aircraft carrier warship ‘HMS Queen Elizabeth’ will not be able to participate in NATO war exercises due to a technical fault. The media have said this confirms the claims of a lack of war preparedness in Britain’s armed forces.

Last month, UK’s Defence Minister Grant Shapps warned about a possible world war while sharing information on strategic issues. Shapps had hinted that the US, the UK and other Western countries may start a conflict with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. UK army chief General Patrick Sanders had also predicted the beginning of a war between the UK and Russia. Now, Sanders has also called for the entire country to be ready for battle, saying that steps must be taken quickly to prepare for war.

The Defence Committee report shockingly underscores that despite the Defence Minister and the army chief making statements on the issue of possible war and war preparations, the UK’s armed forces are still not ready for it. ‘Ready for war?’ In this report, the MPs have claimed that the government is not seriously looking towards increasing the capacity and preparedness of the defence forces. The UK government spends approximately 50 billion pounds annually on the defence sector. However, this provision is not sufficient and large investments are needed to wage a long-term war against the enemy, the committee advised.

‘The UK has seven thousand soldiers in different parts of the world. However, there is huge pressure on the armed forces capacity, and considering the future challenges, there is not even a sufficient stock of weapons present. There is a huge manpower deficit in the armed forces, and the government has failed to recruit the needed numbers. Lack of manpower and shortage of weapons are hurting the armed forces, and their fighting capability is decreasing. The UK government will have to provide full funding for the Defence Ministry. If this is not made possible, the burden of operations on the armed forces will have to be reduced,’ the parliamentary committee told the government candidly.

With the release of this report of the Parliamentary Committee, an incident has come to light confirming the claims made in it. Reports suggest that the UK Navy’s largest advanced aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, will not participate in NATO’s massive war exercise. The UK Navy has shared the information about withdrawing from the ‘Steadfast Defender 24’ war exercise due to a technical fault in this advanced aircraft carrier warship of the UK on such a big occasion. Earlier, it had come to light that there was a defect in the missiles on the UK warship deployed in the Red Sea. The opposition and the media are criticizing these incidents, which are coming one after the other and have hurt the honour of the UK’s armed forces.

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