By IRNA,
London : Britain’s Armed Forces are severely overstretched and unable to mount any further overseas operations as a result of the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has warned.
In its latest quarterly report, the MoD admitted it was falling short of the “readiness” target, where forces are supposed to ensure that at least 73 per cent of units have no “serious or critical weaknesses.”
Nearly half of all military units were said to be suffering from “serious or critical weaknesses” as a result of their service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Under its Public Service Agreement, the MoD is supposed to be able to generate forces which can be “deployed, sustained and recovered at the scales of effort required to meet the Government’s strategic objectives”.
But the Spring Performance Report revealed that after almost a decade operating beyond capacity, this target could not be met due to an unprecedented workload, with both the army and navy struggling to meet designated staffing levels.
“They have been operating at or above the level of concurrent operations they are resourced and structured to deliver for seven of the last eight years, and for every year since 2002,” the MoD said.
“In such circumstances, the armed forces cannot simultaneously be ready for the full range of contingent operations provided for in planning assumptions,” it warned.
The opposition Conservative’s shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said that the report amounted to an admission by the government that the forces were overstretched.
“The Government must stop asking our armed forces and their families to do more and more without providing them with the manpower and resources needed to get the job done,” Fox said.
Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said the “damning” report indicated that (Prime Minister) Gordon Brown doesn’t care about the military.
“Things cannot go on like this. The Government must urgently begin a strategic defence review to better align capabilities and funding,” Harvey said.
The report cited that over the last year, only 58 per cent of the armed forces met the target in their peacetime readiness levels, falling to just 53 per cent in the last three months of the year. This compared with a level of 67 per cent in 2006.
Figures released by Defence Secretary Des Browne this week confirmed the burden placed on the military by fighting two wars, with many regiments serving two, three, four or even five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.