Army chief sets out three-year plan to modernise force to fight or deter future war

The UK needs to be ready to deter or fight a war in the next three years, the head of the Army has said.

General Sir Roly Walker warned of an increasingly volatile world in which Britain has "just enough time to prepare".

However the war in Ukraine ends, he believes Russia will still be "very, very dangerous" and will want some form of retribution.

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Gen Sir Roly said he wants to double the Army's fighting power in three years - and triple it by the end of the decade.

He said threats from Russia, a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan and Iran's nuclear capabilities could converge in roughly three years' time.

Gen Sir Roly said the UK was not on an "inexorable path to war", but warned of an increasingly volatile world and the need to restore credible hard power.

The remedy for him is to double down on modernisation to meet that mark.

"We must pull the future into the present," he said.

Regarding the size of the Army, the new Chief of the General Staff said: "We have struggled to shake a 'big army' mindset where some still believe that raw troop numbers alone determine fighting power. That is out of date.

"We are, in fact, a medium-sized army and we should embrace this as the catalyst for deeper integration to make a more powerful joint force."

He has set his timeline for acceleration and his ambition to field formations that are much more powerful and earlier than planned.

He said: "While there are numerous challenges, which I don't wish away, this is not science fiction."

The question now is how will he achieve this against the backdrop of a defence review that is looking at every part of defence and writing a brand new plan in a year's time.