The UK Defence Secretary has indicated that the number of serving soldiers and officers in the British Army will be reduced as part of the swathe of spending cuts to be made in light of the ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR).
Aside from vehicle and equipment cutbacks, Dr. Liam Fox has publicly suggested that the number of employed personnel within the Forces would be one of the aspects at the forefront of discussions to combat a £500 million deficit.
“Without cost containment in the current programs, we have no option but to either cut the programs currently under way or curtail investment in future programs,” Dr Fox said.
Fox has been called on by the UK Treasury to slash the defence budget by up to 20 per cent in urgent plans that could begin to take effect by the end of 2010, according to the National Audit Office.
Analysts believe that up to 30,000 of the present 175,000 personnel may be slashed, with two thirds of that figure falling on the Army.
The main concern lies in the fact that the forces are already perceived as being overstretched, with 10,000 troops expected to remain in Afghanistan for several more years.
All defence programs are to be re-evaluated as part of the SDSR, with key contentions being whether to move forward with anti-nuclear defence system Trident; whether one of the Royal Navy’s brand new aircraft carriers should be auctioned off; or whether the current order for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter should be reduced.
The upshot of these anticipated cutbacks is expected to reduce Britain’s military presence worldwide and proscribe it from being involved in future campaigns on the same scale as it has been in recent years.
However, it would still be the largest armed force among NATO’s European members.
Prime Minister David Cameron raised the possibility that Britain could start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in 2011, following US President Barack Obama’s hopes to ease American troop numbers in the region from July.
“The faster we can transition districts and provinces to Afghan control, clearly the faster that some forces can be brought home.”
Final decisions on spending for the next five years will be announced by October 2010 when the SDSR is set to be made public.