New chief aims to make British army twice as lethal

>The new head of the army has said he aims to “double the lethality” of the force in three years and treble it by the end of the decade by buying smart ammunition such as missiles with multiple warheads and drone swarms that can kill more fighters at the same time.

>General Sir Roland Walker, a former member of the SAS who survived a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, wants to make the overall army “more [like the] special forces”, coming up with novel solutions for ways to defeat the enemy without necessarily relying on expensive equipment such as more tanks.

>In his first public comments since he took up the role earlier this month, he told industry partners in a video message posted on LinkedIn: “The only real measurement of an army is its fighting power: its lethality in the face of very real, and converging, threats. In the near term, my challenge to the British Army is to double that lethality in three years and treble it by the end of the decade.”

>He added that electronic warfare, drones, air defence systems and long-range weapons such as rockets, in addition to logistics and stockpiles, “remain the stars to steer by” when it comes to his ambition for what the army needs.

>He said he wanted army personnel, working in tandem with defence companies, to “track backwards and forwards from the foxholes to the factory” so that weapons are constantly kept up to date.

>Ukraine, for example, has adapted to launch rockets from civilian vehicles and pick-up trucks. The United States and others have been developing self-steering “smart bullets” that manoeuvre in flight to hit targets that are moving and accelerating.

>Swarms of drones could be used for simultaneous, multi-directional attacks that could overwhelm enemy fighters and make it harder for them to shoot the drones down.

>On Thursday, North Korea announced it had successfully carried out a test aimed at developing missiles carrying multiple warheads, a technology that Walker wants his force to develop, it is understood.

>North Korea said the test was carried out on Wednesday using the first-stage solid-fuel engine of an intermediate-range ballistic missile. It succeeded in separating warheads, which were accurately guided to three preset targets.

>“The purpose was to secure the capability to destroy individual targets using multiple warheads,” North Korea said. The claim was rejected by South Korea as “deception to mask a failed launch”.

>It is understood that as well as developing new technologies, Walker wants to get to grips with an ammunition shortage in the British Army — a problem that is felt elsewhere in the West and has been highlighted by the war in Ukraine, where thousands of shells are being fired every day.

>General Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as the deputy commander of Nato, pointed out last month that ammunition was in “critical short supply” in the British Army, adding: “The bottom of the barrel has been scraped to provide everything that can go to Ukraine, but it needs to be replaced, it needs to be topped up.”

>One former army officer, who left in 2022 and did not want to be named, said that his unit were not allowed to carry out regular shooting practice sessions on the range because of “the cost and availability of ammunition”.

>Walker, who is married with three children, was originally commissioned into the Irish Guards before joining the SAS and going on to lead dozens of raids on enemy targets in Iraq from 2003.

>He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 2010 for “indomitable leadership” during a six-month tour in Afghanistan. He survived a Taliban bomb that ripped through the wheels of his 15-ton Ridgeback armoured vehicle, tossing it 6ft into the air.

>He has taken over as chief of the general staff from General Sir Patrick Sanders, one of the most well-liked officers to hold the position in recent years and who openly criticised government plans to reduce troop numbers.

>Although the army says it could deploy two divisions of around 30,000 soldiers in wartime, in reality experts believe the army would struggle to send one 6,000-strong brigade to fight for a sustained period overseas. Francis Tusa, a defence analyst, said: “In the last decade the army has gone from a capable combat force to an incapable combat force.”

>If Labour comes to power, it would carry out a defence review to assess where the priorities lie across the armed forces.
The Conservatives have pledged to increase defence spending from 2.3 per cent of national income to 2.5 per cent by 2030. Labour has the same ambition but has not set out a timeline or target date.

He sounds like exactly the kind of person to effect the changes. Frontline combat in a leadership role recently, an eye to world experience, and a sense of realism of our situation 

Prestige worldwide…putting in the man hours to get stuff done

Fix bullying, assault and pay issues then you’ll attract better staff who can be a more deadly force

Back to the glory days of… committing war crimes in the desert?

Living in a fantasy land. No one is going to die for a borderless economic zone that eschews it’s own culture, heritage, history and treats it’s own people like utter shite.

So we’re going to give up on the humans and release a bunch of radio controlled robots into battle? Dara O Briain can narrate.

Either that or we’re going to send all the old folks into battle armed with a very spicy curry. No way the enemy will be able to survive the kind of nerve gas a bunch of pensioners with weak pelvic floors can project into the atmosphere (based on the fart per hour ratio of my relatives).

Hope he cancels Ajax. No point wasting anymore money on a wagon that’s shit.