British Army is in a 'dire state' and we should be 'very concerned', Tobias Ellwood says
Many of the key components of the British Army's land warfare are now 20 to 50 years old, which is "unacceptable", according to Chair of the Defence Select Committee Tobias Ellwood.
Appearing on Sky News and talking with Kay Burley about the strength of the Army, the presenter asked: "How concerned we should be?" and MP Mr Ellwood responded: "Very concerned".
The comments come after a recent report suggested that a US general has warned that the British Army is no longer considered as being among the world's top-level fighting forces and is a service unable to protect the UK and its allies.
Former Army captain and now reserve officer in the Army's 77th Brigade Mr Ellwood said: "The Army is in a dire state."
He then added: "You have three main components to land warfare, that is your main battle tank, your armoured fighting vehicle, and your recce vehicle, and, in our case, you have the Challenger 2, you have the Warrior and the Scimitar, and they are all over 20, 30 or 50 years old without any upgrades.
"I am pleased that voices are now coming through to say this is unacceptable."
Mr Ellwood went on to say that the capability of the Army has been whittled down, adding: "We had 900 tanks a couple of decades [ago], we are now looking at going down to 148 and, as we see in Ukraine, tanks are still required on the modern battlefield."
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