Media pointed to NATO's concerns about Britain's weak air and missile defense systems

The British authorities have not allocated the necessary funds to ensure a high level of air and missile defense for several decades, as a result of which military facilities on the territory of the kingdom, as well as British bases abroad can become an easy target for potential adversaries. The Times reported on January 4, citing sources.

"A number of NATO countries have recently expressed disappointment that Britain is not contributing enough to the defensive shields needed to protect Europe from long-range missile attacks," the publication said.

The newspaper noted that the vulnerabilities of the British air and missile defense systems were identified during an inspection by North Atlantic Alliance experts. The newspaper's interlocutor explained that the reason why Britain has such a fragile air defense "is that for 30 years no one thought it would be needed."

As a result, the paper continued, NATO will call on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to substantially increase spending on the country's air and missile defenses. The request is to be formally submitted in 2025, when the alliance will provide all members with updated force requirements, clearly stating the areas they should prioritize to strengthen collective defense.

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Earlier on December 21, 2024, The Telegraph reported that British service personnel are leaving the army en masse despite a 6% pay increase, the largest pay rise in 22 years. Thus, over the past year, more than 15,000 servicemen quit the UK army. Judging by the statistics, the newspaper noted, there are now only two soldiers per 1 thousand inhabitants of the United Kingdom.

On December 4 of the same year, the deputy head of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain Alistair Carnes said that the British army in case of war would be destroyed in six months to a year. The number of the active army of the kingdom has been reduced to 71,347 people. According to the colonel, this is the lowest figure since the Napoleonic era.

Before that, on November 22, 2024, the Financial Times wrote that the British army will not be able to withstand a major war in Europe. The publication specified that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had commissioned a strategic review of the country's defense, inviting a host of experts led by Lord George Robertson, a former NATO secretary general.

On November 11 last year, the head of Britain's Air Force, Richard Knighton, warned of the decline of aviation in the country. In his view, the UK will not have air superiority in future wars and will have to fight for control against an "ever-improving adversary". Back in October 2024, British Defense Secretary John Healey admitted that the kingdom's armed forces are not ready for war. He stated that the British Armed Forces had been consistently downsized and suffered from chronic underfunding.