British Army Picks Gadgets Over Troops; Suggests Cuts by 2025
Numbers matter, but while troops can be outnumbered in the battlefield, a broken gadget can easily be replaced by another of its kind with zero life loss. Considering the upper hand UK cyber warfare and AI-controlled weapons can render their forces with, a cut of 72,500 soldiers was suggested by 2025. Can technology replace the humankind already?
According to the Labour Party, it does not and “size matters” when it comes down to matters as critical as defence.
However, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace who thinks otherwise said, “increased deployability and technological advantage” which ensures the delivery of a relatively greater impact with numbered people. Wallace proposed British Army cyber warfare and use of drones when announcing his new plans of technology replacing manpower in the Commons.
Wallace added that this major changeover in the British Armed Forces marked the transformation of the defence sector from “mass mobilisation to information age speed”. He stressed over the importance of seeking out and understanding the emerging variants of threats posing against the nation’s security.
The UK defence sector is said to be increasing its spending budget to £24bn within the coming four years. The defence secretary added that using outdated resources — referring to manpower — in the form of protection can prove tempting, but not for the long run as adopting them can result in putting the involved lives at risk. Therefore, British Army cyber warfare expenditure is looked at as a relatively more lucrative choice over adding more manpower.
At present the Army only has 76,350 personnel precisely, who are full-time trained and the strength targeted by the forces is short of 6000 such soldiers. Therefore, they got down to a new target and switching the budget to meeting the requirements of a new and competitive age by investing on advanced vehicles and weaponry such as, drones, cyber capabilities, long-range rocket systems, and electronic warfare.
Per the report by the Ministry of Defence, the renewed structure not only reduces life loss, but it is a strategic change that also focuses on relevantly defending the soldiers against hostile powers of the likes of Russia. The Ministry believes that the British forces should be well-equipped with the right training to not only fend off physical attacks, but also cyber-attacks and disinformation, which is an area supremely exploited by countries like China and Russia.
