Future of the British Army
Posted: 31/01/2013 Filed under: Ben Barry, Defence, Europe | Tags: Army 2020, British Army, defence cuts, reserves, reservists, restructuring, UK Leave a comment »
The institute’s Ben Barry has contributed to a piece published by the BBC today, asking how recently announced defence cuts will shape the British Army of the future. The restructured force will be cut from 102,000 to 82,000 by 2017, while the number of reservists will double to 30,000.
Brigadier Barry, who left the army in October 2010, calls it the ‘most radical reorganisation for 50 years’.
‘The Army 2020 design [as the plan is called] displays many innovative ideas and structures,’ he writes, ‘reflecting many hard lessons of the Iraq and Afghan wars and the likely challenges of future land operations, particularly fighting “hybrid” enemies and the increasing requirement for urban operations.
Army 2020: Fighting for the future
Posted: 06/07/2012 Filed under: Ben Barry, Defence, Europe | Tags: British Army, Defence budgets Leave a comment »
By Brigadier Ben Barry, Senior Fellow for Land Warfare
The most radical army shakeup since the end of national service has the potential to transform our capability
The British army’s restructuring has been preceded by intense speculation about the identity of infantry battalions and cavalry regiments to be disbanded. Although this part of “Army 2020″ has attracted much comment and lobbying in parliament, it is in many ways the least interesting part of an ambitious and surprisingly radical programme of re-organisation re-equipment, restructuring and re-basing. Read the rest of this entry »
