Is Britain ready and able to defend nation?

LAST week's Strategic Defence Review saw the Government lay out its 10-year plan for the military with a target to raise spending on the armed forces to 3% in the next Parliament. With the war in Ukraine, conflict in Gaza, threats from pariah states and a hostile China, the world is a more dangerous and volatile place than it has been since the end of the Second World War. This week the Express launches its Defending The Nation series with a deep-dive into the state of our forces and their ability to defend us in a new era. Today we look at the Army and the technology behind drones.

- Conor Wilson

AFTER years of the Army being hollowed out and underfunded, conflict in Europe has refocused minds on the need to prepare for war to achieve peace. To do that requires serious investment, and the Government's pledge to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP this Parliament and 3% by the next is seen by many as too little and too slow.

As the armed forces prepare to respond to the direction of travel set by the Strategic Defence Review, the Daily Express has delved into the figures to understand what the Army has - and what it lacks.

KIT

In the summer of 2022, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders walked into Army Headquarters in Andover for the first time as the then-Chief of the General Staff, the Army's most senior position.

Months earlier Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine had turned conventional opinion on the future of modern warfare on its head, undermining claims by Boris Johnson that "the days of tank warfare in Europe are over". Sir Patrick's task was to refocus the minds of senior officers raised in a period of small-scale operations in the desert against inferior enemies and put them on a course to deploy and win their first battle in Eastern Europe.

He pulled no punches as he delivered that message from the foot of the building's staircase as lance corporals and brigadiers over three floors jostled for position to listen.

In the days, weeks and months that followed, the scale of the deficiencies in the Army became apparent and terrifying, with Sanders later confessing that the lack of equipment often left him unable to sleep.

Over the next few years, much of the equipment that the Army did possess would be donated to help Ukraine's defence, with eight Challenger 2 tanks and 50 AS90 self-propelled artillery guns among the kit provided to help keep the Russian bear at bay.