- The UK confirmed several British Army exercises were fully or partly cancelled over the past year
- The Ministry of Defence faces a $4.6 billion funding shortfall, with decisions on closing the gap delayed until next year’s Spending Review
- Curtailed training—including a cancelled Royal Tank Regiment live-fire exercise—threatens the UK’s conventional warfighting readiness
The UK Government has confirmed the British Army has seen “several” training exercises reduced in scope or cut entirely, amid an ongoing reprioritisation of capability readiness levels from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Despite claimed record defence funding, the UK Government has struggled to adequately fund its defence requirements, including areas such as training.
It has previously been reported by multiple media outlets in September that armoured elements of the British Army had seen live-fire exercises cancelled or curtailed.
Responding to a UK parliamentary question on 5 November for a list of exercises in the past financial year, Minister for the Armed Forces, Louise Sandher-Jones, said that the MoD does not “routinely publish” complete lists of training activities.
However, Sandher-Jones confirmed that “several” British Army exercises had been “fully or partially cancelled” in the past financial year.
“The [British] Army continues to prioritise essential training to protect its operational commitments,” Sandher-Jones added.
In September, the British Army cancelled a live-fire exercise due to be undertaken by the Royal Tank Regiment in order to “prioritise” military training elsewhere.
The move appears to be a tacit admission that armoured warfare is lower down the list of requirements for a UK military struggling to maintain conventional warfighting readiness.
Speaking at a House of Lords’ Defence Committee evidence session earlier in the year, Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton admitted the British Army would have to make savings at the operational level, with fewer platforms deployed on exercises, should the funding needs not be met.
“The thing I am most concerned about is RDEL [funding], our day-to-day operational [requirements]. Without changes to the settlement… then those areas will come under pressure,” Knighton said at the time.
