Report: US general urges UK to re-up its military capabilities quickly, says it is no longer top-rank

A Sky News report on Sunday claims a high-ranking United States military general has warned that the United Kingdom should immediately work to beef up its military capabilities and that the UK had slipped from the top tier of global military might.

In a series of moves over the last several decades to save money, the United Kingdom has dramatically cut military spending. According to Sky News, this has resulted in the UK slipping from the “top tier” of global militaries and that it would take years to reverse the country’s defense decline. Now, the US general allegedly told UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, with the ongoing threat of the Kremlin as it pushes forward in its assault on Ukraine, the United Kingdom needs to bring its war-fighting capabilities back up to speed.

“Bottom line… it’s an entire service unable to protect the UK and our allies for a decade,” a UK source told Sky News. Additionally, the sources told Sky News that newly-installed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak risks his success as a “war-time leader” if the UK does not make quick improvements to its war-fighting abilities.

According to the sources who spoke to Sky News, if the UK were to come under an attack the scale of the one Russia has launched on Ukraine, the United Kingdom would not be able to withstand the amount of air strikes, and the majority of its equipment is 30 to 60 years old. Some other NATO allies have already made plans to increase military spending and to improve their defense capabilities in the face of Russia’s ongoing attack in Ukraine.

The Kremlin expressed its displeasure over the last week at the US, UK and Germany’s decisions to supply Ukraine with armored anti-missile tanks, and has called the move a declaration of direct involvement in the war with Ukraine.