The Army’s new recruitment drive insists robots cannot replace soldiers, just days after the Prime Minister said the UK did not need more troops. The spokesman added that it was “wrong to focus solely on the numbers” and stressed that the Government is investing in cyber warfare and other new technology.
However, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, the head of the Army, warned in a speech on Tuesday at the Rusi think tank that “it would be perverse” for him to advocate for reducing the size of the Army “as a land war rages in Europe and Putin’s territorial ambitions extend into the rest of the decade and beyond Ukraine”.
Defence sources said: “Gen Sanders said we
need to be ready and mobilised now, so we need to fill our ranks in both reserves and regulars really quickly. It would be great if this increase in defence spending manifested in a bigger army. That makes recruiting now even more important.”
Military sources added that the Army currently stood at 77,000 and was decreasing “all the time”.
“It takes 18 months to alter that trajectory, so the decision to pause or regrow needs to be taken faster than the 2.5 per cent target,” they said.