A high-level British general has warned that sending 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine could leave the British military “temporarily weaker,” The Times reported on Monday.
Gen. Patrick Sanders, Britain’s chief of the general staff, said sending the tanks would leave a “gap” in the British military inventory and would make it hard for London to meet its NATO commitments. According to numbers from early 2022, the UK has 227 Challenger 2 tanks, compared with over 6,000 main battle tanks that the US possesses.
“Ukraine needs our tanks and guns now. I know they will put them to good use. And there can be no better cause,” Sanders said in a video posted on the British Army’s intranet that was leaked to the media. “Giving away these capabilities will leave us temporarily weaker as an army, there is no denying it.”
The Times cited “defense insiders” who said Sanders’ comments were likely an effort to make sure the British Defense Ministry replaces what it sends to Ukraine. “There is no doubt that our choice will impact on our ability to mobilize the Army against the acute and enduring threat Russia presents and meet our Nato obligations,” Sanders said.
“It is vital that we restore and enhance the army’s warfighting capability at pace to reinforce our combat credibility and retain our position as the leading European ally in NATO,” he added.
The UK currently plans to upgrade 148 of its 227 Challenger 2s into Challenger 3s, which would cut the rest of the tanks that won’t be upgraded. But British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said he’s reconsidering the plan in light of the situation in Ukraine.
“Even as we gift Challenger 2 tanks, I shall at the same time be reviewing the number of Challenger 3 conversions to consider whether the lessons of Ukraine suggest that we need a larger tank fleet,” he said.
Britain’s pledge to send 14 tanks to Ukraine falls far short of the 300 the commander of Ukraine’s armed forces said he needs to have a chance of pushing Russia out of Ukrainian territory. Poland says it’s ready to send 14 German-made Leopard tanks, a plan that needs to be signed off by Berlin.
The Challenger 2s will be the first Western-made heavy tanks provided to Ukraine, marking a significant escalation of military aid to Kyiv. Russia has strongly warned against the move, but the Western powers no longer seem concerned about the possibility that sending the tanks could escalate the war. The Kremlin said Monday that any British tanks sent to Ukraine “will burn.”
Britain’s foreign policy is clearly NATO first, British people last. I hope leaving the EU so you can have this “independent” foreign policy was worth it. Even the EU ruled by hawks are sending their own tanks….
Don Julio:
Again you vote someone down and do not even bother to say why. I’m sure we would all like to know why….
If I remember correctly, less than two years ago the UK made the decision to deactivate its armor units and get out of the tank business (much like our Marine Corps). So, while I am against any weapons going to the Ukraine- period- the argument that sending these tanks would make the UK ‘weaker’ seems a bit hollow. They already did that to themselves.
I have to wonder at the lack of wisdom on our elected officials part. For myself, personally, I have no desire to see WWIII. The operative word is ESCALATE and everyone knows what that leads to.
500,000 Germans signed a petition to stop this too (machine translation):
Open letter to Chancellor Scholz
we welcome the fact that you had so far so carefully considered the risks: the risk of the war spreading within Ukraine; the risk of it spreading to the whole of Europe; indeed, the risk of a 3rd world war.
We therefore hope that you will return to your original position and not supply, either directly or indirectly, further heavy weapons to Ukraine. On the contrary, we urge you to do everything you can to help bring about a ceasefire as soon as possible; a compromise that both sides can accept.
We share the judgment of the Russian aggression as a breach of the basic norm of international law. We also share the conviction that there is a principled political and moral duty not to retreat from aggressive force without a fight back. But anything that can be derived from this has limits in other precepts of political ethics.
We are convinced that two such boundary lines have now been reached: First, the categorical prohibition of accepting a manifest risk of escalation of this war into a nuclear conflict. The delivery of large quantities of heavy weapons, however, could make Germany itself a party to the war. And a Russian counterattack could thus then trigger the mutual assistance case under the NATO treaty and thus the immediate danger of a world war. The second borderline is the level of destruction and human suffering among the Ukrainian civilian population. Even justified resistance to an aggressor is at some point unbearably disproportionate to this. https://www.change.org/p/offener-brief-an-bundeskanzler-scholz
This situation is easily set to escalate. I’m not in the mood for another world war but these folks don’t know when to stop….
Unfortunately, Donna, I can see no other conclusion 😔
hilarious that the UK thinks that they need 227 tanks.
knock yourelfs out limeys
Never fear! I am certain an equivalent value of killing machine will be delivered as soon as supply chain issues allow. Any ‘shortage’ will be temporary. After all, there is no end to taxpayer money, right?