- The UK is increasingly thought of as a non-peer ally as its armed forces are hollowed out by successive governments
- A UK Defence Committee report says the UK is failing to deliver on aspects of its obligations to Nato
- The UK military is particularly weak in land domain operations and integrated air defence of the homeland
On the same day as the UK Secretary of State for Defence warned of a “new era of threat” amid a reshaped world order, a damning UK Parliamentary Defence Committee publication said the UK was failing in its obligations to Nato and European security.
Both made public on 19 November 2025, the parliamentary report cast a shadow over the speech by John Healey, UK Defence Secretary, who said that the upcoming winter budget, widely expected to see tax rises and cost cuts across Whitehall, would “ensure no return to the hollowed out and underfunded” military of the past.
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The UK government has recommitted itself to increasing defence spending, although analysis from Army Technology revealed some of the fiscal gymnastics that will be required to reach such targets.
The reference to “hollowed out” military capabilities is notable, given the UK government had divested itself of the British Army’s entire 155mm artillery force without public knowledge, until the story was broken by Army Technology.
This leaves the service, at 155mm capabilities or greater, with a meagre 14 Archer artillery systems until the eventual arrival of the planned RCH 155, likely around 2030. It is to be hoped that long-range indirect artillery fires are not needed in scale over the next five years, at least.
Committee lays bare UK failures to Nato
Further concerns were also raised in the 19 November parliamentary report, which warned that the UK was failing to live up to its Nato commitments and would not be able to deploy in depth and sustain itself at length.
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By GlobalData“We were concerned to hear that the UK’s lack of mass is denuding its leadership in NATO”, the committee report stated, adding that the “lack of resourcing dedicated to the UK meeting its Article 3 commitments is a further failure of leadership.”
US officials in Nato have long held concerns over the UK’s ability to operate as a viable partner, with the committee reporting evidence that heard one US official no longer consider the UK to be a Tier 1 military force.
The lack of a Defence Investment Plan, already significantly delayed, was further hampering efforts to understand UK military procurement priorities, the committee warned.
It is unarguable that should the UK find itself embroiled in a conflict similar to that faced by Ukraine, the country would be unable to defend itself against modern threats. The UK lacks a layered air defence system to defend sites of critical national infrastructure, while the recent incursion by activists into a key RAF base highlighted apparent ease of access to UK military sites.
In addition, the UK is entirely incapable of engaging in full spectrum ballistic and hypersonic missile defence, capabilities that are defeating Ukraine’s extensive network that includes Patriot air defence systems.
“The lack of clarity about the Government’s approach to integrated air and missile defence, given the absence of European IAMD capability, is an area of critical importance that requires urgent action,” the committee warned.
The British Army meanwhile is a shadow of its former self, lacking sufficient numbers of armoured vehicles, ammunition, and modern capabilities like FPV drones to operate in the modern battlespace.
According to analysis conducted by Army Technology, any UK contribution to peacekeeping in Ukraine – in the eventuality that the conflict can be halted – would be minimal and around the same scale as its mission to Kosovo, in what is indicative of the UK’s inability to operate in depth and at scale.
Similarly, the Royal Navy and associated Royal Fleet Auxiliary have been in decline for decades, with available surface escorts down to single figures amid a shrinking fleet and sustainment problems. The less said about nuclear submarine ambition, the better.
Is the UK a weak link in Nato?
With the UK’s military capability, from leadership to logistics, C4ISR to combat operations, increasingly being called into question by allies, academics, and observers, it is possible that enemies infer a weakness that needs to be exploited, in a timeframe that London is simply incapable of operating within.
As friends and adversaries come to the same conclusion – that the UK’s is no longer a Tier 1 military entity – national notions of defence renewal appear fanciful.
