The British Army could go as small as 60K soldiers...the Brits will soon be no longer relevant....

via Economist.com

The result is that the Ministry of Defence is desperately seeking ways to find savings of around £2bn a year, at least until 2022 and probably for five years after that. Exactly how the axe will fall is likely to be determined by a review of “national-security capabilities” that is expected to report early next year—a delay supposedly to allow the recently appointed defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, time to get a grip on his new brief.

There are already some indications of the way things are going. The navy, says Mr Chalmers, has made clear that its priorities are the nuclear deterrent, aircraft-carrier strike capacity (two new carriers are in the process of entering service), and the attack submarine force. The result is that Britain’s amphibious capabilities are expected to take the hit, with two assault ships taken out of service and the number of Royal Marines cut by 15%.

The army is also likely to suffer. The government had promised not to go lower than 82,000 soldiers, but the current figure is around 77,400 and there are fears that it could go as low as 60,000. American generals are worried that Britain would be hard put to deploy a division (about 20,000 troops) alongside their forces in a future European war. The House of Commons defence committee warned earlier this year that, even at the previous numbers, the “credibility of the warfighting division will be undermined”. Mr Chalmers thinks an expedient fudge on army size could be found, but there may be a price to be paid in terms of urgently needed new armoured vehicles.

Four years ago the then-chief of the defence staff, General Sir Nick Houghton, sounded the alarm about manpower cuts resulting in a “hollow force”. He could see what was coming.

Story here. 

Wow.  So the Brits will lose two amphibious ships, 15% of its Royal Marines and potentially cut the British Army to 60K troops to pay for the F-35?

Congrats Great Britain.

You bought the lies and the bullshit about the F-35 and have guaranteed that you will soon no longer be considered a relevant military power.