British Army must be unbeatable and ever more lethal, says General Sir Roly Walker

The head of the British Army says all his thinking stems from one ambition – to make the Army unbeatable.

Speaking at Rusi's annual Land Warfare Conference, General Sir Roly Walker said the Strategic Defence Review set out a plan to create an Armed Forces "so lethal" that no adversary would dare to fight them.

"With the commitments outlined and the vision set in the SDR, we are building ever more lethal Armed Forces," he said, "capable of operating over ever greater distances and in ways that will make fighting us such an unfair proposition that no one in their right mind would try. But if they did, we would fight."

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One of the main initiatives driving that change is Project Asgard, an Army programme to enhance reconnaissance and strike capabilities on the battlefield.

Named after the mythical home of the Norse gods, the project is already in action on Nato's eastern flank, according to General Walker.

"It's also a project that is beginning to flip forward land forces in Estonia from being what they were as a strategic tripwire to an invasion-stopping capability," he said.

"Ultimately, the vision here is when those Russian soldiers return to their barracks across the River Narva, they will see a system that is as lethal, if not more lethal, than the system that gave them such a mauling in the Donbas.

"And that's the price they pay for their misadventure."

But the Army's modernisation plans, he said, depend on more than just new equipment. 

"We are rethinking what it means to be a soldier in the 21st century," he said.

"At the heart lies the need for strong ethical and moral values at an individual level, if they are going to withstand the extraordinary stresses and pressures of modern combat."

Gen Walker said the Army has a role to play in promoting those values across society – whether through education, the cadet force, or simply by example.