Fourteen years ago, I wrote the Army’s contribution to the Future Land Operating Concept (FLOC), so it was disappointing that at the recent RUSI Land Warfare Conference in London, there was a desperate discussion about the British Army’s decline during the past ten years.
It is quite easy to trace when we started to cannibalise major equipment, such as Challenger 2 battle-tanks, through flawed concepts such as Whole Fleet Management. It is much harder to lay out a programme of re-armament to address the weaknesses in manoeuvre warfare, let alone deliver this in a five-year time-line.
Next month, I have been invited to speak about the current state of the British Army. The problems of equipment will of course be part of this talk. However, the more important aspect will be the assessment of fighting spirit and the ability of our soldiers to defeat an enemy that attacks us with a full range of capabilities in the worst-case scenario.
From this analysis, I will conclude with what I consider to be the top five priorities for the British Army in the next five years.
Rupert Wieloch 