The war in Ukraine has created “capability gaps” for UK forces, armed forces minister Luke Pollard has admitted – saying that giving vital equipment to troops fighting Russian invaders meant the UK now needs to “backfill” its own stocks.
The minister insisted that kit had been given to Ukrainian troops “quite correctly” by the previous Tory government, with the backing of Labour.
But he added that this support had resulted in “some capability gaps, especially in the British Army”.
Here he told how the UK had sent “nearly all” of its AS90 mobile artillery units to Ukraine, with Mr Pollard stating: “That has created a capability gap within how we operate.”
Speaking to Scottish political journalists at a Ministry of Defence briefing, Mr Pollard added: “That was the right decision, absolutely the right thing to do. But there is a challenge now about what do we do in the interim period.”
The issue of stock will be considered in the UK Government’s strategic defence review (SDR), which was launched in July this year after Labour came to power and is being led by former defence secretary and ex-Nato secretary general Lord Robertson.
Mr Pollard said: “That is one of the things we are taking into the SDR, how do we make sure we are backfilling our stockpiles with the equipment and the ammunition that is needed.”
The SDR will also consider the make-up of the UK’s armed forces and how they need to adapt in response to the “changing nature of warfare”.
But Mr Pollard insisted that the conflict in Ukraine “should be the wake-up call we need to make the case for a stronger defence” as he insisted the review team had not been instructed to make cuts, but would instead seek to “right-size” the UK’s military capability.
The minister explained: “The challenge to the SDR team is what are the capabilities we need, and then what would be the transition from the capabilities we have today.
“We haven’t instructed the SDR team to cut, what we have asked them to do is right-size our forces against the capabilities that we need.”
Stressing that the world was now a “more difficult, contested place”, the minister added that the review would consider what the UK armed forces should look like in response to that.
Mr Pollard said: “I think the British public are by and large aware that the world is a more difficult, contested place at the moment.
“I think what the defence review will show is how we respond to that as a country and the choices we need to make in terms of right-sizing our forces to get to the fighting force we need to deter an aggressor but defeat one if necessary.”
Mr Pollard also said the SDR – which is expected in the first half of 2025 – could also identify a need to “invest in further capabilities” to defend crucial sub-sea cables, which are used to carry electronic data.
The UK now has a specialist vessel, the RFA Proteus, to bolster capability in this area, with Mr Pollard saying it was an “important first ship to look at how we support and defend that cable infrastructure”.
The minister stressed: “We are all dependent on electronic infrastructure for all our daily life, the NHS is dependent on it, air traffic control is dependent on it, financial markets are dependent on it. Everything is dependent on the data flows.
“And if we can’t assure ourselves those data flows are protected then we would be neglecting a really critical part of our national infrastructure.
“That is one of the areas where I would expect the SDR to not only identify a risk to us, but also an opportunity to invest in further capabilities.”
