Britain cannot defend itself against Putin's military might | World Defense

Britain cannot defend itself against Putin's military might

Redheart

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Britain cannot defend itself against Putin's military might, top brass warn - Telegraph

Britain cannot defend itself against the military threat posed by Russia, senior army figures have warned.

As two RAF Typhoon fighters were scrambled on Wednesday evening to escort Russian long range bombers flying off Cornwall, military chiefs said that the UK “could not cope” with an all-out attack as our defences have been “decimated”.

David Cameron said Moscow appeared to be "trying to make some sort of a point".

"I don't think we should dignify it with too much of a response," he said.

However, Sir Michael Graydon, former head of the RAF, appeared to take the threat far more seriously.
“I very much doubt whether the UK could sustain a shooting war against Russia. We are at half the capabilities we had previously,” he told the Daily Mail.

“They fly in these regions to check our air defences and have probably worked out we are not as sharp as we were.

“They know it is provocative and they are doing it at a time when defence in the west is pretty wet compared to where they are.”

As tensions between Nato and Russia have worsened over the Ukraine crisis, Moscow has significantly increased the number of military flights probing Nato airspace.

The number of interceptions over the Baltic States trebled last year and Nato members including Britain have stepped up air policing support in the area.

Air Commodore Andrew Lambert, who commanded Allied forces in northern Iraq in 1999, said: “If the Russians turned up the heat, we would struggle badly.

“If Putin wanted to attack, he would not send a pair of bombers, he would send the lot and saturate our defences; we couldn’t cope”.

He told The Daily Mail: “The Typhoon is a really good aircraft but with their relatively small numbers they would be overwhelmed: the Russians would outflank us, go around us or just go through us.

“The modern generation of politicians has grown up in absolute security – they’ve never felt a threat to their existence, safety or security.

“They’ve taken peace for granted and decimated the Armed Forces. Let’s hope we don’t pay the price.”

The Russian Tupolev TU-95 bombers, known as Bears, were picked up in international airspace to the north west of Britain at round 6.30pm on Wednesday and escorted as they flew south, then turned around and flew off north.

The interception of the Bears comes a fortnight after similar aircraft flew into the English Channel, prompting the Government to demand an explanation from the Russian ambassador.

Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said there is a “real and present danger” that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, will launch a campaign of undercover attacks to destabilise the Baltic states on Nato’s eastern flank.

He added tgat Putin might try to test Nato’s resolve with the same Kremlin-backed subversion used in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
 

DeltaForce103

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“The modern generation of politicians has grown up in absolute security – they’ve never felt a threat to their existence, safety or security.

“They’ve taken peace for granted and decimated the Armed Forces. Let’s hope we don’t pay the price.”

That's an interesting point of view and I wonder if it is true. It seems the discussion on the possibility for conventional war with Russia in Europe has escalated over the past months, propelled by Russian incursions into NATO airspace.
 

xTinx

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Here's my take on this matter: from the outset, the Russia military was trained to do or die. Sentimental Britain, after centuries of colonizing nations, searching for new territories and joining world wars, had to focus on enriching its people and culture, relegating military concerns to the back burner. Russia had never rested on its laurels. Putin tirelessly carried out the legacy of his USSR predecessors so we can all expect they'd win just about any war. The Russian military puts everything on the line and won't hesitate to suppress human sentiment for the sake of victory.
 

Redheart

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Obviously Russia's knows all Britain's weaknesses. A little while back someone proposed that they should cut the army to 60,000. Compare that against Russia's 845,000 regular troops. However there's no reason why Britain should yelp because should Russia decide to attack them, NATO would wade into the fray, effectively balancing the scales and perhaps tipping them in their favor.
 

Waynefire

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True NATO would enter into the fray, but with all the destabilizing economies that are already present in the NATO countries would it make much of a difference. Not only that from what I have read a lot of the NATO countries are following in the same manner as the UK and downsizing their army. Even in the United States, if I seen correctly they are trying to downsize the American military by running out a lot of the older soldiers who have war time experience. So it would balance it for a little bit, but it would take a long time for the NATO countries to actually have an effective force on the ground.
 

vegito12

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I think British needs to improve the military and also, get better defenses and also equipment so they can be ready if a attack happens and can have a good defense area to fight from. Well they would have allies, and would have to get them in and hope they can hold them off until the allies arrives to help out. The country needs improvement and this will only happen when, the military and government make change which will improve the country.
 
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There will not be a large scale war between the UK and Russia. This much is OBVIOUS. All this BS talk about a war pisses me off since there is absolutely NO reason for Russia to attack the UK.. even less when everyone with half of a braincell knows that the retaliation capability of UK (or NATO if you want to play it that way) is enough to level every major Russian city.

This is not to say there couldn't be smaller scale conflicts where the two countries are on different sides, but a full blown war between the two just isn't happening.
 

missbishi

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There will not be a large scale war between the UK and Russia. This much is OBVIOUS. All this BS talk about a war pisses me off since there is absolutely NO reason for Russia to attack the UK.. even less when everyone with half of a braincell knows that the retaliation capability of UK (or NATO if you want to play it that way) is enough to level every major Russian city.

This is not to say there couldn't be smaller scale conflicts where the two countries are on different sides, but a full blown war between the two just isn't happening.

My sentiments exactly! There is always talk of Russia being at war with someone and media scaremongering is responsible for this. In any case, Russia has other fish to fry, so to speak and has little interest in threatening the UK other than the occasional chest-beating display.
 

Rowe992

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Britain doesn't seem to take security of its border serious these days because they have not only cut their army but they have also made it more difficult for people from Commonwealth countries to join. They complain about military cost but yet still spend billions on welfare and international aid. I hope this decision by Britain don't come back to haunt them in the future.
 

Gabriel

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Britain doesn't seem to take security of its border serious these days because they have not only cut their army but they have also made it more difficult for people from Commonwealth countries to join. They complain about military cost but yet still spend billions on welfare and international aid. I hope this decision by Britain don't come back to haunt them in the future.

I'm not sure why you think the UK doesn't take its borders seriously. It is the strictest of the EU countries and not part of the schengen agreement. I live here and it's strict and if we were not part of the EU it would be stricter.

Back to the OP, Russia won't attack anyone least of all the UK as the UK has lots of allies nearby and the USA will back up the UK. The UK can defend itself, no country lets all its military defenses publicly known.
 

Dez97

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Its funny....In a show I'm watching the exact same thing is happening with Russia, only with the United states. Why does Russia always gotta be so stubborn...and war like.
 
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