Latest news with #GeneralSirRolyWalker
The Sun
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Just 1,000 crack Brit troops can fend off ENTIRE Russian invasion, Army chief says – as UK learns from Ukraine's tactics
IT could take only a 1,000 brave British troops to halt a major Russian invasion, the head of the British Army has claimed. General Sir Roly Walker said the tiny British Army was like David fighting Goliath with his troops constantly learning from Ukraine's battlefield tactics. 7 7 7 The former SAS boss leads the smallest British Army for more than 300 years – of just 71,000 trained troops. But he claimed better training and technology – like David's legendary slingshot – would give British troops an 'unfair advantage' in any future conflict. Russia has lost a million troops to death and injury in Ukraine so far. And critics have claimed the British armed forces would run out of shells and drones in an afternoon of war with Russia. Gen Walker insisted Britain's 'combat mass' would come with uncrewed drones in the future. Addressing a Landware Conference in London, he said: 'A better trained force will often defeat a bigger and better equipped one. A lesson Goliath learned from David.' He claimed a 900-strong UK battalion guarding Nato's eastern flank in Estonia was no-longer just a "strategic trip wire'. He claimed lessons from Ukraine – including new secret communication system – was giving British troops the edge. He said: "It's a project that is flipping our forward land forces in Estonia from a strategic tripwire into an invasion stopping capability." He added: "When Russian soldiers eventually return to barracks across the River Narva, they're going to find the same lethal recce-strike systems there, which gave them such a mauling in the Donbas." UK must build a Putin-pounding military like Poland - or he'll steamroll over us, ex-general warns British troops based in Estonia are armed with Challenger 2 tanks are serving as part of Operation Cabrit, to enhance Nato 's forward presence. Gen Walker said the Army still needed tanks – despite the fact that the £20million weapons could be blitzed by a £1,000 drone. But in future he said the Army would need to spend half its money on disposable and uncrewed weapons. He described a new three-tier fighting system, with soldiers at the centre, protected by two outer rings of drones. The troops will continue to operate 'survivable and lethal platforms' such as Challenger 3 tanks and Ajax and Boxer vehicles. He said: 'We wouldn't put troops there without a rifle, radio, body armour and helmet, so why would we put their vehicles there without guns, armour plating and comms?' But he insisted those expensive vehicles would make up no more than a fifth of the army's arsenal. In the future, they will be bolstered by two outer layers of robots and AI powered drones. He said they would provide the Army's 'combat mass'. The first robot later would 'fly, float and drive' and be bristling with sensors to find and track enemy units and loaded with missiles to destroy what they find. He said: 'You don't want to lose them, but it's not a tragedy if you do because, although sophisticated, they're uncrewed.' The final layer will be made up of 'consumable systems'. He said: 'These are your even cheaper single-use platforms, like one-way effectors. When they're gone, they're gone. 'And that's how we are multiplying our fighting power, with a three-ring source of lethality.' 7 7 7
Times
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Defence secretary backs military chiefs in war crimes scandal
The defence secretary has said that he has 'confidence' in his senior officers and their ability to lead after they were embroiled in a war crimes scandal. John Healey said that he 'absolutely' believed General Sir Roly Walker, the head of the army, and General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, about to become head of the navy, had integrity. Both generals were named in a BBC Panorama investigation on Monday night, which claimed that members of Britain's special forces murdered innocent Afghans over more than a decade. The documentary included claims that Jenkins oversaw the rejection of hundreds of UK resettlement applications from Afghan commandos who served alongside the Special Air Service (SAS) during the war. The rejections were controversial because it is understood that some of
