Deputy military chief outlines four lessons UK has learnt from Ukraine war

The deputy chief of the UK Armed Forces has outlined four key lessons learnt from the war in Ukraine as he admitted there is currently an "operational shortfall" in the British Army. 

Speaking to the Commons Defence Committee, Lieutenant General Rob Magowan, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, said work is being done to "recapitalise" the Army – which needs to be delivered "as fast as we can".

"But I'm not sitting here saying 'and that's all we need'," he said.

• PM and Chancellor understand British Army is 'in urgent need of recapitalisation', minister says
• US general 'warns British Army no longer among world's top-level fighting forces'
• British Army is in a 'dire state' and we should be 'very concerned', Tobias Ellwood says

"The CGS (Chief of the General Staff) has been very clear about the so-called 4+1, which are those areas, we can go into that detail if you wish, they're those areas that we do need more funding for.

"And we're particularly learning from Ukraine, particularly against uncrewed capability, electronic warfare, long-range fires and air defence, there's four key lessons from Ukraine which were hard to see four or five years ago whilst we were operating in other theatres.

"So, we absolutely accept there's an operational shortfall in the British Army today, but that is on top of a significant recapitalisation programme," he added.

This comes after a number of senior figures, both in the UK and US, criticised the state of the British Army.

Tobias Ellwood MP warned the service was in a "dire state" and we should be "very concerned" earlier this year.

The Chair of the Defence Select Committee said land warfare has three main components: "your main battle tank, your armoured fighting vehicle, and your recce vehicle".

"In our case, you have the Challenger 2, you have the Warrior and the Scimitar, and they are all over 20, 30 or 50 years old without any upgrades."

The Chancellor and the Prime Minister said at the end of January they understood the Army is "in urgent need of recapitalisation" and "there is a budget coming".

Outside of the UK, a US general reportedly told Defence Secretary Ben Wallace the British Army is no longer considered to be among the world's top-tier fighting forces.

Defence sources, reported by Sky News in January, revealed that the unnamed general reportedly warned Mr Wallace about the status of the Army.

Sources also claimed the UK's Armed Forces were "a service unable to protect the UK and its allies".