The total number of UK Armed Forces ships, tanks, aircraft and more revealed

[@fatstar111]

Shocking how small our armed forces have become in my 37 year lifetime

[@elgrau]

America has been handling the world's problems for 50 years... that time is ending.

[@occamraiser]

Yes, and we don't have enough applicants to even sustain these numbers.

[@generalpeeps]

I know its inconsequential in the end but at least make the effort to have graphics that are UK used equipment (the fighter was an F15 and the tank was a leopard 2)

[@WilboSwagz]

the ships are US too

[@RichardMontgomeryYT]

it urked me as well

[@oz0912]

Be good if some staff in Forces News had actually served 🤦

[@Gridlocked]

Thought I was the only one that noticed.

[@ENGBriseB]

Drones can take tanks out like there's no tomorrow. I wouldn't worry to much about how many tanks we have. We need Aircraft Drones and a bigger Royal Navy. And are army has the very best of the best.

[@Ianmundo]

the real number everyone should be talking about is the headcount of the MoD, the Ministry of Defence in 2022 numbered over 53,000 civil servants. That’s almost as large as the RAF and Royal Navy COMBINED. The MoD is where the billions in the Defence budget is wasted on endless bloated, and usually cancelled ‘projects’

[@thecurlew7403]

Yea conscipe the mod into the army you will have 120 .000 😅😅😅

[@mikebarrett5345]

I know of one senior RN civil servant, based in Abbeywood who laughingly stated: "I get paid a ton of money for foing nothing. I spend all day reading books!"

[@thecurlew7403]

@mikebarrett5345 Britain is being destroyed on purpose people have the power to reverse it but they won't.

[@thecurlew7403]

@@mikebarrett5345 Britain is being destroyed on purpose.

[@thecurlew7403]

@@mikebarrett5345 Britain is being destroyed on purpose.

[@dazady452001]

Our weakest point in history. It's all because of politicians

[@Ghosy01]

it is a good thing . the uk post ww2 record have been abysmal

[@FinsburyPhil]

Not really, it's because of money - just like every other nation that isn't a dictatorship.

[@dazady452001]

@@FinsburyPhil The amount of money they get is decided by Politicians. They are also supposed to set the conditions for growth and prosperity. They fail constantly and make cuts to the armed forces as a result.

[@thejeffinvade]

Vanguard tried to launch trident ICBM twice, failed twice. The latest failure happened just two weeks ago, with Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on board the HMS Vanguard, but we still failed. I don't think UK nuclear deterrence is really reliable at the moment.

[@FinsburyPhil]

@@thejeffinvade they really need to find the point of failure - the US have had 191 test firings of Trident missiles with a failure rate of less than 5%. The number of test firings by the RN is thought to be 14 with one other failure before the recent one - so a smaller sample but definitely a higher failure rate; and it probably isn't the missile itself.

[@momo8200]

France is a similar developed country as the UK, relatively close sized gdp, wage levels and population size, yet France has more ships, aircraft, tanks and a larger army all while spending about 15 billion dollars less each year.

[@charliecook-pt6gu]

that is true but they would just surrender if it kicked off so its not much use to them.

[@occamraiser]

Yes, but they don't have TOP of the range kit, they have ALMOST top of the range kit made in France, employing french people. We could do that if we chose to.

[@Great-Britain2]

Technology dissapered which makes it more powerful than japan.

[@frazer3191]

5th largest defence budget in the world and all we have is a tin pot home guard outfit. It’s shameful

[@AuriumLarke]

Yeah I don't understand how we maintain such a small Royal Navy with the 5th biggest Miliary budget meanwhile the Italian Navy has similar numbers with like 40% less Budget and not only that but their new-ish Bergamini class frigates cost half of the Type 26 frigate and still does an excellent job. I honestly hope we build more Type 31 frigates as its a cheaper option but it still packs a punch if they fit it correctly. We're an island nation, our navy should be our biggest strength and we also need to invest heavily into drones.

[@fanghan7555]

You would'nt take them on though ?

[@thepeacockk]

​@@AuriumLarkeitaly does not have nuclear strike capability. You don't even want to begin understanding how expensive nuclear weapons are

[@piyushkumarchoudhary8073]

😊​@@AuriumLarke

[@frazer3191]

@@thepeacockk we spend hundreds of billions on nuclear weapons yet we only have one method platform - the sub. And only one on patrol at any one time. We have No nuclear missiles in silos or nuclear tipped cruise missiles nor any air dropped nukes for the F35 or nuclear munitions for our surface fleet. instead the U.K. has just one submarine on patrol at any one time lurking in the Atlantic. In a war, If the Russians found our deterrent submarine, and dropped nuclear depth charges from aircraft above, before we could fire off our trident missiles then the entire deterrent system is irrelevant and redundant. Despite its cost. Tens of billions a year are spent on nukes, Yet we still can only field one submarine - just ONE ! with 40 warheads on board, each warhead 15 times more powerful than Hiroshima. As we only have one submarine on patrol at any one time and another preparing for a patrol there are only two submarines armed with nukes available for war. Two submarines can provide a maximum warhead count of 80 hydrogen bombs which in general nuclear war, we can fire at Russia in anger. So if the British lone submarines in the North Atlantic remain undiscovered and learn one day that the U.K. has been destroyed with nuclear weapons then from beyond the grave The U.K. can send a volley of 80 hydrogen bombs at every major city in Russia which on paper kills 100 million Russians in just a few hours. Rendering Russia destroyed.

[@philsilva13]

At the rate of losses in Ukraine we should be able to last about 3 weeks.....

[@thetruthhurts7675]

That is two weeks longer than Ukraine was supposed to last. Nice point mate!!

[@Randomstuffs261]

1 HIMARS every two years is the current rate, so I think we should be okay.

[@cx3929]

@@Randomstuffs261 UK Army no longer ‘top tier fighting force’, warns US general

[@Randomstuffs261]

@@cx3929 That doesn't mean we'd last 3 weeks though mate, especially looking at how well Ukraine is doing using our kit

[@snlpes86]

last 3 weeks doing what, assaulting over seas, or defending at home whilst being surround by water. In addition, war is all about supply lines, of which we dont have enough of, thats probably the real issue

[@jjsmallpiece9234]

RAF 137 Typhoons - does that include the 30 odd Mk1 Typhoons that are being taken out of service - so just over 100 Typhoons in reality

[@elmodiddly]

The 30 that are being taken out of service will be taken out of service next March, so are still in service at the moment . . . so still 137 typhoons.

[@jjsmallpiece9234]

@@elmodiddly I know. However, 30 new jets should be ordered to replace them to the latest Mk. However the government won't fund defence properly

[@steveharris5682]

The amount that are airworthy is no more than 30 per cent. The aircraft has shocking reliability, just see how many airframes the Luftwaffe have lost. These figures do not show the amount of pilots

[@ukpitts]

@@steveharris5682 I recall reading an article by somebody with an engineering role in the Typhoon’s maintenance schedule development. He was horrified that it had something like one thousand differnt shapes & sizes of fasteners that regularly need removing to strip the outer skin during maintenance.

[@LUFC273]

@@jjsmallpiece9234 What do you mean won fund defence we just built a brand new aircraft carrier

[@guyb7995]

In the case of a war with Russia, it's not a case of how many you have, but how many more you can create, and in what time frame. What you have will only get you so far. What can you do in the long term?

[@Ganstatrippin]

Case of the old chestnut battle of attrition . Foxhole is a good simulation on pc . Sure they should of thought ahead if only they had known .

[@JckSwan]

Exactly. When you see some of the...I don't know what the jargon is..."acquisition times" of some of the equipment we're getting, it's ridiculous. Ohhh, we're getting some new howitzers and they should be combat ready by 2030! What?

[@HMSDaring1]

The numbers are shocking compared to two decades ago - however it's far worse than that. What's hidden is that a significant portion of those numbers are not combat ready, look at the Royal Navy for example, both Albion and Bulwalk are significant time-frames away from being ready for action, the Type 45's struggle with availability and same for the 23's. Likewise with the RAF, haemorrhaging pilots and barely any ordnance to fit to the aircraft.

[@colindeloughery5996]

Its not an exclusive problem friend; a recent report in Canada found our armed forces to be at just 46% operational readiness...out of a target of 100. We have 4 submarines and only 1 of them has ever been to sea, and it caught fire and had to be towed back. Our only naval resupply ship was taken out of service years ago. And our ammunition reserves are not much better; we'd have enough to last about 3 days if we were in a conflict and burning through it as fast as Ukraine is. (as quoted by our defence chief in a recent interview).

[@TheLastCrumb.]

It's no wonder trump wants out of nato.

[@monkeyboy8424]

The UK military is so large it needs two Defence Secretary's - Can't Shapps and Michael Green.

[@user-ei3dq2dw6i]

We are more of a defence force these days

[@derf9465]

Monday through Friday

[@leemacdonald6533]

Would only last a number of weeks against at best

[@Kakarot64.]

​@@leemacdonald6533 Normal weeks or Ukrainian weeks?

[@michaelhart895]

Never mind the armed forces , our industrial base was shut down and flogged off decades ago . In any future conflict we would be incapable of producing anything in any real numbers , armament wise . It’s no good looking at the service sector which is worshipped by our politicians, to produce a single shell or bullet , never mind armoured vehicles etc . We don’t even own what’s left of our own steel industry anymore .

[@Exiyle]

the problem is if you prepare too early youre easily countered, in war time we have the resources to develop a suitable counter

[@VanderlyndenJengold]

It's OK though, they sold a lot of it to the USA. They're our pals.

[@Exiyle]

and with our industries, we dont own our water, electic, gas or steel... its all been sold abroad to the french and alike

[@csten]

Spot on.

[@thejeffinvade]

Vanguard tried to launch trident ICBM twice, failed twice. In the the latest failure two weeks ago, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on board the HMS Vanguard, but we still failed. I don't think UK nuclear deterrence is really reliable at the moment.

[@KiwiJanner]

The numbers clearly include ships that are laid up, in reserve, or in dockyard hands under refurbishment or construction. For example, 10 submarines, includes 2 undergoing modernisation, so would take years before being available, and 1 undergoing trials. The RFA is in dire straits, with a single solid stores ship, which cannot put to sea due to lack of manpower. The list goes on frigates, destroyers, and lesser craft unavailable for a variety of reasons. I can only guess at army and airforce numbers, but assume they are similarly inflated. This all ignores the serious lack of people, and falling recruitment numbers.

[@steveharris5682]

Absolutely correct. Frigates going into mothballs because of lack of sailors, even with WOKE recruitment going on.

[@ReefOoze]

would struggle to fend of a secondary school never mind another army

[@wickedjuice]

Now down to the comments to hear what the KZbin Experts have to say about this.

[@allybally0021]

Experts much like yourself.

[@Richard11110]

You don’t really have to be an expert to know that 59 ships is hardly a navy

[@CastleHassall]

crowd opinion analysis is hugely accurate way of gaining insight.. that's why they let people comment

[@savethebeesplantherbs8809]

I get my infomation from those serving so i get the truth not fake news

[@weeguy52]

Why thank you and know I'm an expert😤 but its good to be praised from time to time😂

[@svenhaheim]

Its so little for a country like britain every number should be 3x at least.

[@mrrolandlawrence]

Conscription soon comes. Don’t worry we will make up the numbers on the front lines quick enough.

[@jakeh491]

​@@mrrolandlawrencethat's great we will have men what about tanks, aircraft and ships? Takes years if mot decades just to produce a few destroyers. Months just for a couple tanks. Even if we had 10years to prepare we would struggle

[@death_parade]

@@jakeh491 Good luck trying to produce tanks within months. Modern military capital equipment has long lead times measured in years, not months. Around 1.5 to 2 years, if your production line is not running it will be even more.

[@jakeh491]

@death_parade in war time, on average, it would be some every few months I'm not saying it would only take 3months to produce.

[@franklongwill9178]

forgetting to say that both aircraft carriers are broken , and the nukes dont work. and youve got no long range air defence....

[@JckSwan]

That's not true!!! It's the missiles that don't work, we have no idea if the warheads work or not! Lies! Propaganda!

[@thejeffinvade]

0:16 Vanguard tried to launch trident ICBM twice, failed twice. In the the latest failure two weeks ago, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on board the HMS Vanguard, but we still failed. I don't think UK nuclear deterrence is really reliable at the moment.

[@jimmyguitar9873]

despite costing more 30% of the mod equipment spend.

[@drex8925]

Yeah true, but it's better finding this out now than the moment it kicks off if it does, god forbid

[@cathybrind2381]

Grant Shapps was on board? Well there's your problem.

[@darthknight1]

@@drex8925 Actually, this is the second time the Vanguard has failed a Trident launch in the last couple of years. So the warning signs where there a while ago.

[@jamesmccann531]

@@darthknight1 The missile was launched correctly, but then the missile itself failed in flight. Vanguard has proven itself capable of launching Trident, they just need to make Trident itself actually work.

[@Beauloqs]

In the grand scheme of things weve about six men, two of which are on light duties and a donkey to carry the radio batteries.......

[@steveharris5682]

One of the men is on his knees facing Mecca and another is excused duties to attend a Pride March

[@icebergUK]

9 frigates Montrose & Monmouth decommissioned Westminster & Argyll not currently active likely to be decommissioned due to the state/cost of repair of Westminster & no crew for Argyll

[@steveharris5682]

Absolutely. Running out of fairies to crew them too

[@kieranthompson3543]

Is what is. Make do with what you have got. Just use what you have got in the best way. We need to focus now on independently producing our own equipment. How ever that looks like. Im sure we could get some production lines going, making something.

[@sorennilsson9742]

Licens produce CV 90, Archer and Jas 39 E. Cheap and good quality.

[@Backwardlooking]

Requires increased investment. Two World Wars proved that would-be aggressors are only deterred by strength.

[@EvoraGT430]

Requires BETTER procurement!

[@darthknight1]

Britain had pretty good strength immediately pre-WWI.

[@Kageross]

It's alright then, because with the armed forces like that - you ain't going anywhere.

[@willsutton04]

No it didn’t we were at our stongest during those wars and it still happened

[@james-yg9cg]

You were not fighting Russia then, let's not confuse Russia with Germany. This people have an industrial Base, we cannot keep up with. And we have chance of achieving that

[@lukedogwalker]

Why weren't the RN's aircraft also listed? Gave no figures for RN fixed and rotary, but did bother to break down some of the airframes flown by the army.

[@millny123]

They were listed 7 x Fairey Swordfish 5 x Supermarine Seafire

[@lukedogwalker]

@@millny123 🤣 nice Tardis. Does it get good mileage?

[@derf9465]

The RN are bone idol and lazy. Work shy. Suprised they get airborne. Ask any RAF man who has worked along side the senile service

[@exsubmariner]

And half a dozen fancy dress bird costumes​@@millny123

[@steveharris5682]

The RN is using RAF airframes plus US Marines

[@mikeduff1166]

Proud and Haughty! Nuff said.

[@alanmcmillan6969]

Our Forces are something to be proud of. But re they enough for conflict?

[@leemacdonald6533]

As long as its with a 3rd world country then we are good 👍

[@davidhouseman4328]

Yes, but the complexity is how much in what particular situation.

[@zangrygrapes4571]

only against poorer nations

[@davidhouseman4328]

@@zangrygrapes4571 so everyone but allies and China?

[@alanmcmillan6969]

@@zangrygrapes4571 how dare they be poor!

[@CastleHassall]

Grim Reapers did some quite accurately modelled simulations of very small scale strikes by Russia against Britain.. it did not end well at all for the UK

[@JohnNjengaCOCO]

Russia has 79 submarines. Numbers matter in war. Doesn't matter the technology but overwhelming force matters.

[@al-azimahmed1188]

Let's face it, were never going to war with anyone unless we're going as Americas side kick.

[@stupidburp]

Highly capable but relatively small in scale. Pretty close to the best that can be expected with limited budgets and manpower.

[@ukpitts]

The `limited manpower` is very top heavy. Far too many senior officers. 1 Air Marshall for every 4 combat aircraft in the RAF & 1 Admiral for every blue water combat ship in the RN! The Army has a Battalions worth (660 people) of senior officers above the rank of Lt Colonel and therefore not regarded as combat officers. They also have a whole Battalions worth of expensively uniformed musicians to play in the 7 marching bands the taxpayer funds. Leaner and meaner would be more capable & better value.

[@paulmint1775]

@@ukpitts Don't forget the cooks :)

[@jimmiller5600]

@@ukpitts History has proven your statement incorrect. In peacetime you have a limited budget. You hang on to skilled officers with decades of experience. When war comes you draft strong young men and hand them rifles. Six months later you have a new rank & file being led by experienced officers.

[@ukpitts]

@@jimmiller5600 All good in theory, but the new ‘rank & file’ are best if not led from behind a desk. What they need is a strong Major down to 2nd Lt cohort of experienced officers & a motivated NCO cadre. They will never see, let alone speak to the battalion of stuffed shirts swanning about in the MOD.

[@jimmiller5600]

@@ukpitts Fine. Please explain how you are going to cycle those junior officers and provide experience if you're not at war. That's why the older officers are there. This is called reality, not some fantastic level of perfection.

[@user-zh9kc7tw4n]

Numbers have it´s own quality

[@simonh317]

Only 109 tanks made it to the start line when rapidly deployed in 2022 and only 30 TES kit for them.

[@allancopland1768]

How many militarily insignificant islands have fought a tank war? Asking for a friend.

[@niblet112]

@@allancopland1768you are right tanks and ships are obsolete now tbh. The drone war and artillery war in 🇺🇦 have proved that. So the uk military is not just small it’s outdated too

[@mattkingaby]

Ukraine has overwhelming shown the value of Artillery, but the RA has been utterly decimated since the 92 defence review. The baby was well and truly chucked out with the bath water on that one.

[@alenkerr8533]

Not the biggest but all the best equipment needed for our brave men and women who serve

[@FunnyDodoBird-be5ob]

Imagine having ships docked as floating Museums that the maintenance could be paid for by the public for just incase

[@jamesflaherty59]

What ships are you talking about?

[@FunnyDodoBird-be5ob]

@@jamesflaherty59 all the ships that have been scraped over the last few years for just in case

[@karlprice9465]

Where do you get your information to point out the army has around 160 challenger 2s operational the rest have been given away or mothballed due to lack of spares & that amount will drop to 132 when the challenger 3 comes into service

[@matthewbaynham6286]

It's interested that the Royal Air Force has 308 aircraft in service, because when you compare against the US, if you just look at the transport air craft, the US has over twice as many transport aircraft compared to total air craft in the RAF. The US is a bigger country with a population with approximately 400 million compared to approximately 70 million. So that's approximately a 6:1 ratio, but military size isn't the same 6:1 ratio. The US has well over three thousand fighter jets, compared to the 168 in the RAF, that is closer to 20:1 ratio. The UK just needs more resources, I know a lot of money gets budgeted but it doesn't seem to result in any increases in resources.

[@darthknight1]

US pop is 342 million. Not 400 million.

[@icemanzw]

USA population I'm sure is not 400 million

[@elmodiddly]

The USA is a completely different military animal and has a large number of aircraft due to the roles that USA play across the world. They are much more activem militarily speaking, than a lot of other countries The UK are part of a NATO force that shares capabilities with many of it's European allies, as well as America, which is why the UK does not need so many assets.

[@matthewbaynham6286]

@@elmodiddly so you didn't learn anything from the events in 1982. Britain needs to be strong without NATO.

[@millennialtrucker6435]

Agreed. The USMC is almost as big as the entire British military and probably has more aircraft, ships and armour at it’s disposal. We can’t just have kit and equipment though. It would be useless without the people to operate it. The US military is part of the American identity. They’re proud of their military. It’s not the same in the UK, completely different attitude towards the military and service personnel. Having read many of the comments recently about conscription and people being forced to join up because of a war, you could tell by the majority of comments that too many British people are spineless and have no pride in the country. Again, complete polar opposite to the US.

[@Petriefied0246]

I'd really like to see how these figures compare to the British forces prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

[@BroadHobbyProjects]

Some old books on eBay/Amazon by a Charles Heyman worth getting. Have one from 1994 titled The Royal Air force a pocket guide. I think in 1990 we had around 700 combat aircraft of various types, Tornadoes, Buccaneers, Harriers, Sea harriers, Jaguars. Etc He did ones for the army & Royal navy. A few compiled ones of all three services too.

[@thewomble1509]

In the mid seventies BAOR was 55,000 strong, full regular army strength was around 170,000, 900 Chieftain MBT, (600 of which were based in Germany), RAF was approx 115,00 and the RN stood at approx 96,000. Then you had the TAVR which was 65,000 in number and the Regular Reserve , made up of ex squaddies that could be called up in time of crisis.

[@AverageWagie2024]

Royal Navy had about 73 surface warships, 3 carriers, and nearly 30 submarines

[@BroadHobbyProjects]

@@thewomble1509 Don't forget the then 420 MK2 & mk3 Challengers in service with 1st, 3rd an 4th armoured divisions, who operated the Chieftains in service alongside them. The UK has around 1200 total but just over 400 were in various states due to being replaced by Challengers.

[@thewomble1509]

@@BroadHobbyProjects I was talking about the mid seventies. No Chally's in service for another decade at least!

[@colindeloughery5996]

Canadian here. Quite the force for a relatively small country. Our own forces are laughable in comparison ATM; less than half the capability (probably even less than that actually) and many many x the landmass to safeguard. I hope and pray we dont ever have to have another good ol' fashioned fight for freedom in the foreseeable future.

[@rhysblackwell2065]

We will stand with you in any Battle My Canadian Brother you and your Beautiful Country 🇨🇦 🇬🇧

[@niblet112]

@@rhysblackwell2065battle against who??? Canada’s own government is the peoples biggest threat

[@chltmdwp]

Take out your PM first! He is your biggest threat.

[@eyeofthetiger6002]

But we don't have big brother Uncle Sam to protect us as a neighbour! 😅

[@colindeloughery5996]

@@eyeofthetiger6002 true, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable if we didn't have ALL our eggs in that basket. At least the UK has it's own nuclear deterrent.

[@Ghosy01]

all this wouldnt be enough to to cover 10 km of frontline of ukraine. its crazy how low have the uk has fallen

[@razrose2380]

An interesting video but I think the actual numbers of serviceable items would about 60% of the figures claimed on a good day.

[@jimmiller5600]

Yeah, but that is typical across any "first class" military. It gets worse fast when you drop down a class.

[@allancopland1768]

I doubt that. Nowhere near as good.

[@death_parade]

@@jimmiller5600 60% is hardly typical. In the Indian Air Force, for example, 75% is considered bare minimum. It was hovering around 60-70% around a decade ago and everybody from the CAG to the media was writing obituaries for our sorry state of affairs. Thankfully it rose to 80% in 2018 during a pan-India exercise and has since hovered in the 70-80% range. Still not good enough, neighboring Pakistan manages to maintain 85% despite being a fraction of our economy and being cash strapped and needing an IMF bailout.

[@jimmiller5600]

@@death_paradeI could find very little published on IAF readiness rates. Of interest that would indicate you may be a bit optimistic is "With most fighter squadrons set to be phased out over the next decade and a half, the IAF has made it clear that there’s no question of reviewing its sanctioned strength of 42 fighter squadrons. However, the gap between the current strength and the target strength is somewhat greater than it appears. This is because despite the IAF maintaining a fleet strength of 31 squadrons on paper, the number is lower in reality, since the availability of some of the fighter types is less than 50%, due to serviceability issues and non-availability of spare parts.".

[@death_parade]

@@jimmiller5600 Google Exercise Gagan Shakti. Happened in 2018 and is again set to happen this year. Last time they demonstrated an 80% serviceability rate in the exercise despite a very high tempo of operations, with some jets like the Tejas IOC variant logging upto 6 sorties per day. Since then, several older airframes like the MiG-27 and MiG-21 have been retired and replaced by new airframes like the Rafale and Tejas Mk1 FOC variant. So very likely that the serviceability rates are up again. Last time a CAG report stated IAF serviceability rate at 50% was back in 2015. The fighter squadron strength falling to 31 from 42 is indeed a major and often discussed problem, but is partly ameliorated by India inducting something that it didn't have back when that 42 squadron figure was first mooted: A fully network centric pan-India IADS with medium and long range SAMs and even a two-tier BMD interceptor shield that was previously missing.

[@shayed9930]

Politicians have failed this country.

[@fritzstudios8571]

No point building for external threats when you're not dealing with all of the internal threats and latest batch of "new Brits"

[@mhamedshaaban6626]

One of them 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧💜💜💜✨✨✨🙏

[@Great-Britain2]

The uk should invest more on aircraft and navy and artillery

[@AntiWokeXyCitizen]

We may have a tiny force, however look at the size of the supporting MOD civilians in the background. Do you think they're likely to step up when the time comes, but meanwhile they'll drag their feet ensuring correct funding and procurement aren't on time.

[@TheJon2442]

Just like the UN, never has so much money being paid to so many civil servants for doing so little!

[@davidhouseman4328]

I remember looking at the need for more artillery pre Ukraine, now we've got less and its importance has been emphasised I think it is the top priority.

[@TheRogueminator]

137 Typhoons and 31 F-35s, so only 168 fighter jets in total for the Royal Air Force of Great Britain, a nation with 67M people, while little Denmark with 5,8M people, about 1/12 of GBs population, has 30 F-16s... Those numbers are too little, a military power like GB should minimum have 300 active fighter jets at all times! The numbers of armored fighting vehicles is also ridiculously low.

[@steveharris5682]

The RAF does not even have a large MU anymore. The largest they had is now an army base.

[@colindelamare1413]

We need a much larger everything. Double or in some cases treble. Ammunition too. Recent events have shown just how weak we are. You cannot rely on other countries to cover your back, or any short-fall in arms and equipment. Dangerous times are upon us. Be prepared.

[@MeetShah_]

So in short we can just defend ourselves for a week or so I think the Royal Navy should increase it’s number of ships and capabilities And Many new fighter jets ‘Stealth’

[@TheB1nary]

Maybe they should hire you?

[@thetruthhurts7675]

So oyu sound like ALL of the world's defence experts "Ukraine will last a week at the most!" Here we are two years three months later and Ukraine is still going strong. This is the point of Alliances.

[@thetruthhurts7675]

@@TheB1nary Really? He knows nothing!!

[@MeetShah_]

@@thetruthhurts7675 Ik alliance are there but I am thinking from the perspective of no one helping britain it is on it self

[@MeetShah_]

@@TheB1nary Oh yes ready to serve would you like to be my assistant

[@GEDSKEL]

We must introduce a conscription model like Finland and increase our Defence budget to 3% or above and I agree with one of the other comments about the size of the MOD civil service, cuts have to be made.

[@fToo]

@0:24 "59 other vessels" - so 2 carriers, 2 landing ships, 6 destroyers, 12 frigates, 8 offshore patrol, 7 minehunters - that leaves 22 things that probably shouldn't be included in this list !

[@steveharris5682]

Some of those will be admirals barges and fisheries protection vessels. Probably survey vessels too. 😂

[@thomaspickard4138]

32 infantry battlalions when I left school in 2008 there was 68!

[@trevorsutherland5263]

I can hear Shoigu and Gerasimov laughing all the way from Moscow

[@catlee8064]

My reg (2RTR) had 4 sabre sqns with 12 MBTs each then 2 MBTS in cmd troop (The CO and 2IC) ....So we are down to 4 Reg worth of MBTs....

[@sorenbaek9626]

Thats a lot more than I thought. I was begining to think if we had a war with Russia we wouldnt last more than a couple of weeks. Now Ive seen this I think we maybe be able to last atleast a month give or take a week or two.

[@mattm7007]

1:02 Did he say protective vehicle while two guys rocked past with the sun roof down?

[@NickWard-bz4jo]

😂😂😂

[@sshep86]

That's the Jackal. A HMT. Designed to be light and mainly for reconnaissance. It replaces the land rover. And is designed to make landmine hits more survivable. The open front isn't unusual for fast reconnaissance vehicles.

[@Dingdangdoo]

@@sshep86 the Ukraine war has shown us that drone hits from above would be a bigger problem.

[@death_parade]

@@Dingdangdoo A thin roof won't save you from a drone attack anyways.

[@mattm7007]

@@death_parade a helmet wont protect you from a direct bullet either but we don't take them off, it's about shrapnel, ricochets and limiting lethal fire.

[@chrisryals4651]

Unfortunately Pitiful. Noticeable they didn't actually include figures for service personnel for each of the armed forces which is also shambolic. Full respect for all members of the UK Armed Forces.

[@tylerdurden4006]

Lol lies, you have 2 "super" carriers with 2 of everything so it never breaks down that cannot do anything and one of them even caught fire today. 😂

[@mozzy5286]

Thank god we have great equipments incase in any threat

[@leemacdonald6533]

Just as long as its a small 3rd world country then we are OK 👍

[@Donquixote_Doflamingo.]

​@@leemacdonald6533 many so called third world countries is more powerful tha you

[@steveharris5682]

We don't. The carriers are usually in port with major problems. The F22 has never reached its original design brief. The Typhoon has shocking reliability. Soldiers buy their own brown boots. Chronic wastes of money from an oversized MOD HQ and civil service which is both corrupt and inept.

[@soloknife]

How many of these ships and vehicle are not declared

[@DavidGikandi-k9s]

I’m surprised! You can fit all the UK military men in a New York baseball stadium!

[@cp4512]

Regiments are smaller than they used to be with less equipment too. Just look at army air corps regiments

[@crusader8626]

Surprised the video got to two minutes long😂

[@Adrian-qb1tp]

What an utter joke the staffing and equipment levels are now, we will struggle to respond to any serious incidents, this is what happens when you let bean crunchers control the MOD. A far far cry to what we as a nation could do when I left in 92.

[@gunshipzeroone3546]

So true the usa are lol at us.

[@thejeffinvade]

Vanguard tried to launch trident ICBM twice, failed twice. In the the latest failure two weeks ago, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on board the HMS Vanguard, but we still failed. I don't think UK nuclear deterrence is really reliable at the moment.

[@rocketmunkey1]

There is something far more sinister going on than bean counters ! Its called "the long march"

[@matthewbaynham6286]

@@thejeffinvadewas that the test launch that accidentally went towards the US coastline?

[@CastleHassall]

​@@matthewbaynham6286i think the missile might have been hijacked.. flight programming hacked..

[@markmullen8536]

Hard to think back BAOR 95.000 troops based in Germany alone

[@adrianrichards247]

Just not enough even for a minimal conventional resistance

[@mightvedroppedjury5324]

Tiny probably need 5x that to be a leading power

[@IANREA]

So you list all the equipment, but how many are actually working, ready to go in an hours notice. Have they fixed the embarrassing missile issue.

[@JordShores]

Aka hardly anything...

[@oleksii000]

How tf ~ 100 modern ships is hardly anything?

[@AverageWagie2024]

@@oleksii000Only about 19 are actually surface warships, compare that to 1990 when we had around 73 surface warships

[@Eddie-ec8co]

One of the largest military budgets in the world and we have nothing to show for it. It’s not even embarrassing anymore just shameful.

[@jjsmallpiece9234]

Answer - not enough equipment and men for all 3 services

[@Kaiyats]

At current if Russia cuts internet watch the numbers flow in

[@michaelcullen6923]

In other words, the RAF has only a total of ~168 combat aircraft. By comparison, the Luftwaffe has 209 and the US Air Force has ~2000. Time for the UK (and Germany) to step up their game.

[@steveharris5682]

It has probably about 90 serviceable combat aircraft

[@ryp1562]

Don’t need an army when you let the enemy in your country illegally

[@theworldaccordingtochris4370]

A country like Britain should have at least 500,000 soldiers as a standard regular army.

[@occamraiser]

What do you base your precise calculation on? Britain had the right forces for Britain's chosen role in the world and the fact that we are an island with no enemies adjacent. Britain has ALWAYS maintained a very small land army - all it is needed for is to repel Welsh or Scottish invasions. So the fact that russia has invaded Ukraine means that "Britain SHOULD HAVE 500,000 troops"? I don't know when your next lecture is at Sandhurst but please send me a ticket.

[@team3am149]

If you’re counting toy soldiers.

[@AverageWagie2024]

It would be useful to compare these numbers to 30 years ago

[@allanxxxxxxxx]

Just need to create 5 Drone Regiments

[@ashleycullen.933]

Half of list isn't operational

[@EnglishScripter]

Same with most navies... you dont have all your ships out at once. I cannot believe you thought that happened! 🤣

[@stevenjohns7017]

Very nice but what actually works?

[@seeker1432]

Why are you sharing this information. Yes our enermys may have an idea, But dont need to clarify it.

[@kizzyp2735]

All the information is in the public domain anyway ...no secrets being given away here.

[@jakeh491]

Important for the british public to know what's going on with the military that's meant to be able to protect us

[@rivetjoint9628]

Utterly Appalling. 20 first line surface combat vessels, 31 F-35 aircraft.

[@forest_169]

Still need a lot more kit and personnel especially the way the world is ,government are so blind to what is going on around the world took much worrying about cost if we were to go to war money don’t save the country kit does.

[@simondyble4080]

How the once mighty have fallen!

[@Isaac-muntz]

Britian its long past its powerhouse status

[@FrodeNilsson-jj5gn]

Wow...a country of almost 70 million people having only 200 mbt's and less than 170 fighter planes.

[@frankthompson6503]

Time for general and sea lord's and air force to stand against our defunct government officials and politicians.

[@jamesgeorge9467]

Maybe 50% of this equipment is in working order

[@niblet112]

If that. And we don’t have the capability of repairing any of it

[@mrkey1003]

People are talking a lot about a lack of everything. The UK is part of Nato as you all know. Every Nato member is given a priority focus as being part of Nato. The UK's current priority role in Nato is Nuclear deterrence (being one of only two countries etc) and Intelligence - GCHQ/MI6/5. Both being money pits but vital to the Nato overall strategic efficacy. Nato is supposed to be an organism etc...counties spend on what is needed where, appropriately. The UK is an Island nation too hence the subs/carrier advancement but really currently is focused in its role as I stated above. Intelligence and Nuclear deterrence. Its what it is.

[@Aidcaa]

The UK is entirely dependent on the US and its sad

[@trevorttilling438]

What about hms ocean and hms albion raf also have tornado squadrons

[@icebergUK]

HMS Ocean sold to Brazil Feb 2018. HMS Albion in reduced readiness (mothballed) with a skeleton crew.Tornado retired 2019

[@steveharris5682]

Tornados were scrapped after being ruined flying so many missions in Libya. Get with the mission

[@Phlegmwahn]

Yeh, yeh, yeh, but do they have the personnel to operate all this equipment? Recruitment and retention has been a problem for decades and what have our esteemed leaders done about it - nothing! Some bright spark recently suggested conscription. They obviously didn’t think that through; for it to work you’ve got to have something worth fighting for and the UK as it is leaves a lot to be desired!

[@James-sh4zf]

Remember when the navy planned for 12 destroyers...

[@derf9465]

Well in 20 years the raf has dropped from 17 flying stations to 7. If you've ever worked with the RN. they might aswell not come to work as more will get done.

[@steveharris5682]

Plus the 7 they kept weren't the best for the job. All political.

[@danielrichardson4868]

Its not about numbers its about capability, 10 nuke subs, 2 aircraft carriers and 137 typhoons alone can defend the island, 168 military fighters is like one every 10 miles circling the island...think about that

[@yamahass66]

Didn't uk get swedish archer ?

[@ToirealachLochlainn]

The bottom line is. Don't mess with them or underestimate them.

[@steveharris5682]

20 years ago, yes, WOKE troop enlistment means that they are NOT what they were

[@gizmodud7267]

As the UK we need to focus on our what we can bring to NATO and not just a large military in my opinion. We should be able to provide air support, naval dominance and specialist forces where appropriate. Although I would never say I like decreasing military numbers. As long as we exchange that for more elite special forces I don't mind. The US can swarm the enemy whereas we control the seas, sky and as well the enemy supply lines 😋

[@wendyharbon7290]

We need more warships, submarines, plus more combat aircraft and helicopters, as well as more tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery and air defence system, equally more drones too. Last of all more personnel in the regular army, navy and air force, plus the marines, need to increase their size by about 50 percent. While special forces need to be increased by a third too. However where the biggest increase in personnel, is first in quadrupling the number in army and marines reservist units personnel, plus tripling the number of navy and air force reservists too, with a Citizen Home Defence Volunteer Force being created of some 50,000 personnel, Which would be secondary to.Reservist Force Units with some 150,000 personnel, which would be expected too or will deploy overseas or to European mainland, in support of Regular Forces in times of international military emergency's too. So Regular Forces personnel would hopely number over 180,000 plus, while Reservist Forces personnel is over 150,000 plus, lastly the Citizen Home Defence Volunteer Force would number some 50,000 plus personnel too, the later would defend the UK from attack mostly.

[@Grumpylove]

Are you sure about the AAC only having Apache helicopters?

[@FinsburyPhil]

34 Wildcats are on order for reconnaissance, light transport and force protection