Under-funded British Armored Troops

2021 British armored troops had to buy equipment worth £ 16.3 billion. You will receive only 5.5 billion.

Previous purchases have focused on the needs of the Afghan contingent. Get there, including presented transporter family haulers Viking class cars or trucks MRAP family of special forces Jackal. Units ogólnowojskowe still can not wait for modern combat vehicles.


Data on the scale of underfunding of British armored and mechanized analysis revealed a parliamentary commission of budgetary surveillance.


The study indicated that since 1998 the armored equipment for general purposes only spent £ 1.1 billion, of which the third part was lost on the unfinished programs, including participation in the project to build a transporter Boxer (ultimately unfinished by Germany and the Netherlands) and the family of armored vehicles FRESA .


In turn, introduced during the crisis, budget savings have led to a reduction in planned spending on armored equipment by 10.8 billion to only U.S. $ 5.5 billion in the period to 2021 inclusive. This means - according to analysts, the committee - that the army will have to contend with hardware gap, at least until 2025.


Definitely looks better the situation of foreign contingents. They received equipment worth £ 2.8 billion, paid for from outside the basic budget of the Ministry of Defence. Reducing expenses can however lead to problems in their use and servicing in the coming years.


The report indicates that the armored and mechanized troops have been most affected by reductions in spending. The reason is the lack of a large number of commitments to the industry ministry. A series of procurement of equipment for air and naval required to sign contracts with many years ahead .


Indicated sum of £ 5.5 billion may be too small for the payment of the purchase of new tanks, reconnaissance, as originally planned numbers and dates of delivery.