The Army is set to be spared fresh troop cuts when the Government publishes its latest defence plan, the head of Britain’s armed forces signalled tonight.
The number of soldiers is being slashed from 82,000 regulars to just 72,500 under plans outlined in March 2021 - 11 months before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Latest figures show the Army has already dropped to 75,710 full-time troops.
Critics hoped the war in Ukraine would trigger a rethink when updated proposals are revealed next month in a Defence Command Paper.
But the Prime Minister is expected to press ahead with the cuts, which come as remaining troops are given better kit.
Britain’s top military officer, Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, tonight suggested there would be no extra cuts on top of the plans to cut numbers to 72,500.
He told the London Defence Conference: “I don’t think, with the Defence Command Paper, that we anticipate that the Army is going to be smaller.”
The Tories have also been criticised for scrapping a third of the Army’s Challenger 2 main battle tanks under the cuts announced two years ago.
An £800million deal was agreed to supply 148 upgraded Challenger 3 tanks.
But the overall number of tanks will be cut from 227.
“I see the value of tanks for particular tactical actions,” said Adm Sir Tony, a former First Sea Lord.
“But this notion that there are - literally - any silver bullets or any individual capabilities that then decide who’s going to win, who’s going to lose is nonsense.”
Admitting NATO allies were “stronger” than the UK when it came to tanks, he added: “When you look at the UK’s armed forces, you have to then put them into, ‘Where do we fit into NATO? Where do we have particular capabilities that strengthen NATO? Where do we rely on other countries that might have capabilities that we don’t have? Are there some things where we may not be super-strong in that capability; we want to have a modest element and we will expect others to be stronger?’
“The tank is an obvious one.
“There are other nations within NATO that are stronger tank nations.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that we dispense with tanks - it just means that as part of a balanced international force, you then take those decisions as to how much do you need.”
The defence chief also repeated his plan for 10,000 unmanned drones across the Royal Navy, RAF and Army by 2030.
They would range from handheld drone cameras carried by infantrymen on battlefields to help them see around corners and further than with the naked eye, to “loyal wingmen” drones which fly alongside manned fighter jets, to long range, armed drones such as Reaper, which have been used to launch Hellfire missiles at extremists in places like Iraq and Syria.
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