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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| British forces 'very stretched' | British forces 'very stretched' |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Britain's armed forces are "very stretched" by operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the chief of the defence staff has told MPs. | Britain's armed forces are "very stretched" by operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the chief of the defence staff has told MPs. |
| Air chief marshall Sir Jock Stirrup told the defence committee there was "not much more left in the locker". | Air chief marshall Sir Jock Stirrup told the defence committee there was "not much more left in the locker". |
| Commitments had been greater and gone longer than planned, he told MPs. | Commitments had been greater and gone longer than planned, he told MPs. |
| "We are able to sustain what we are doing at the moment but in the not too distant future we need something to change," he added. | "We are able to sustain what we are doing at the moment but in the not too distant future we need something to change," he added. |
| He said he had been encouraged by recent announcements on troop withdrawals in Iraq. | |
| But even if withdrawals continued as expected, Britain would not be able to fight another war for "some years" because of the impact operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have had on training. | |
| "If we are able to reduce the operational tempo, as we hope and intend to, over the next 18 months, and we achieved the first very slight loosening of the screw just recently, then we should be in a position to reinstate some of this training. | |
| "But quite clearly we are not going to be in the business of engaging in large-scale, high-end war fighting operations for some years to come. | |
| "Because not only do we need to conclude what we are currently doing, or at least bring the levels down, we will need to train a new generation of people." | |
| Rethink | |
| All three armed forces were short of manpower, said Sir Jock, and personnel were being kept away from their home bases for longer, without leave, than recommended. | |
| If operations continued at the current level for longer than expected, there would have to be a major rethink, said Sir Jock. | |
| "We will either at some stage, in the not too distant future, need to reduce the overall level of commitment, or are we going to think about the overall force structure." | |
| The armed forces could cope with redeployment to Afghanistan, but there was "not much more left in the locker," he told MPs. | |
| "We do have other capacity for certain emergencies but it's pretty limited," he told MPs. |