Head of the Army vows to improve ‘lethality’ without increasing troop numbers

The new head of the Army has vowed to increase the “lethality” of his force without the need for greater troop numbers in the face of an “increasingly aligned axis of upheaval”.

General Sir Roly Walker, Chief of the General Staff, said he has “just enough time” to “prepare, act, and re-establish credible land forces”.

The former special forces officer said he aimed to double the Army’s fighting power in three years and triple it by the end of the decade.

But in his first public speech, he told the land warfare conference at the Royal United Services Institute that if “called to battle before then”, troops will have to fall back on “old hardware”.

Sir Roly told the conference defence forces had struggled to shake a “big army mindset, where some still believe that raw troop numbers alone determine fighting power”.

“We are, in fact, a medium-sized army and we should embrace that as the catalyst that drives even greater integration for a more powerful joint force,” he added.

Sir Roly, who took over as the Chief of the General Staff last month, commanded the Grenadier Guards from 2009 before becoming Deputy Chief of Defence Staff.

His lengthy military career began with the Irish Guards in 1993, then involved service with the SAS from 1997.

His service record has included deployments in Northern Ireland , Iraq and Afghanistan .

The Army chief said he must be “realistic” that if called to battle before his overhaul, “it will be with much of the old hardware, and we will have to work within the limits of their stockpiles and their logistic support systems”.

“And so as we transition from old to new, our fighting power will come from a hybrid system. And that’s OK,” he added.

“Hybridity, in the right hands, can inspire extraordinary creativity, and resilience, vigour.”

The need for improvement is “urgent”, he said, adding: “We have got to pull the future of fighting power into the present, faster than we thought we could.

“We probably do have just enough time to prepare, act, and re-establish credible land forces to support that strategy of deterrence.”

Sir Roly said the Army would exploit emerging technologies “fuelled by artificial intelligence” to “double and then triple our fighting power”.

“That way we will have every confidence in being ready and able to fight anyone and win.

“It will also give our soldiers every reason to stay in the Army and contribute adding value to society.”