Britain’s ammo stocks would run out in an afternoon of war with Russia, says top former general
BRITAIN’S ammo stocks would run out in an afternoon of war with Russia, a top former general says.
Writing today for The Sun, General Sir Richard Barrons, former Joint Forces chief, says years of cuts have left cupboards almost bare.
The warning comes after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace yesterday said military spending may have to rise for two decades, owing to global threats, and as The Sun reveals Britain is buying ammo from South Asia to support Ukraine.
Dr Jack Watling, at military think tank Rusi, said Ukraine had been firing about 6,000 shells a day.
But we rely on imported explosives for tank and artillery shells.
Our ammo plants, run by defence contractor BAE, would take a year to make a day’s shells for Ukraine, sources say.
The Sun also revealed Britain has no working heavy artillery guns after giving all our serviceable AS90 self-propelled ones to Ukraine.
Gen Barrons says the Army needs £3billion more a year to rejoin Nato’s top tier.
And Mr Wallace, who is in talks with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ahead of next month’s Budget, says: “As the world gets more dangerous, defence should get a growing proportion of spend.
“The world is more unstable and likely to remain so for a decade or two.”
Most read in News
Speaking in Portsmouth he warned our military has been “hollowed out” in recent decades under governments of all parties.
His comments came as he also responded to urgent calls from ex-PM Boris Johnson to send fighter jets to Ukraine.
He added: “I’m open to examining all systems, not just jets. But these things don’t always happen overnight.”
He said of Ukraine’s fighters: “Even if tomorrow we announced we were going to put them in fast jets, that would take months.
“You’re suddenly having to learn to pilot a fast jet, so there is no magic wand.
“Right now what the Ukrainians need is the ability to form military formations on the ground, to use combined armoured manoeuvres.
“That is how you defeat the human-wave attacks the Russians are resorting to, First World War types of attack with casualties to match.”
Ukrainians begin training from Monday to use our Challenger 2 tanks.
Both PM Rishi Sunak and Mr Wallace want to send a squadron of tanks to the country, which could arrive by the end of next month.
The MoD said it was boosting ammo stockpiles to “more than pre-invasion levels” with an extra £560 million from the Treasury.
They said: “Ammunition levels are highly classified.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“The war in Ukraine is an example of Soviet doctrine which uses vast quantities of artillery.
“We do not, nor ever have, used artillery in such methods, so to try and draw such conclusions is misleading.”