The general’s comments came after the Ministry of Defense announced last year that the total number of Britain’s professional armed forces would be cut from 82,000 to 73,000 by 2025.
“Taking preparedness measures to put society on a war footing when needed is not just desirable, it is essential,” Sanders said in a speech at the Armored Vehicles Conference in south-west London. Ta.
“Within the next three years, we should be able to believe in the story of a 120,000-strong British Army, including our Reserves and Strategic Reserves.”
Mr Saunders, who will step down later this year, said Britain could not rely on its naval and air power and insisted: “We must be able to fight and win wars reliably on land”.
Britain’s allies were already doing so, he said.
“Our friends in Eastern and Northern Europe, who feel more acutely the approach of the Russian threat, are already acting cautiously and are laying the foundations for national mobilization,” he added.
“Ukraine brutally shows that regular armies start wars and militias win them.”
Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of NATO’s military committee, said last week that civilians in member countries should prepare for the possibility of a future war with Russia.
He added that if the conflict escalates in Europe, large numbers of civilians will have to be called up.
Earlier this month, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said the UK wanted to increase defense spending from 2.1% of GDP to 2.5% in future.
In a speech last week, he said the world was moving “from a post-war world to a pre-war world.”
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The British contingent will include a full range of land capabilities, including fighter and reconnaissance aircraft, the Navy’s most advanced warships and submarines, and special operations forces.
He said the UK needed to ensure its “entire defense ecosystem is ready” to protect the homeland.
Richard Dannatt, who served as chief of staff from 2006 to 2009, likened the current situation to the 1930s, when the “pathetic” state of the British military was unable to stop a Nazi invasion.
“There is a grave risk of history repeating itself,” he wrote in The Times last week, calling for Britain’s defense spending to reach 3.0% of gross domestic product (GDP).
“If our military is not strong enough to deter a future invasion from Moscow or Beijing, it will not be a small war to be fought, but a big war.”