On June 28th General Sir Patrick Sanders, who earlier that month had become chief of the general staff, addressed the Royal United Services Institute (rusi), a think-tank in London. “This is our 1937 moment,” he said, pointing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “From now the army will have a singular focus—to mobilise to meet today’s threat and thereby prevent war in Europe.” The process will be known as Operation mobilise.
General Sanders now promises “ruthless prioritisation”, on the assumption that the army would have to fight along nato’s eastern front, or on the alliance’s northern or southern flanks in the Arctic and Mediterranean. Some missions will be pruned. “I think the idea that the army is going to the Pacific to fight the Chinese is now off the table completely,” says William F. Owen, an expert who has advised the army and edits Military Strategy Magazine"