Defence experts warn a huge defence overhaul could weaken the UK on the world stage.
A defence spending review expected within two weeks is predicted to put greater emphasis on space and cyber conflicts.
Critics fear “boots on the ground” numbers will be slashed by 10,000, with several Army battalions axed.
Tanks and other under-used weapons are also expected to be retired despite warnings that Britain’s ageing vehicles would be outmatched in any conflict with Russia.
MPs of the Commons Defence Committee say UK tank units face “mass obsolescence” after two decades of being run down.
And a report by the School of Security Studies at King’s College London says previous revamps massively under-estimated the costs of new technologies.
The study by Dr David Jordan also notes that a 1966 review scrapped a planned aircraft carrier, which would have been a boon in 1982’s Falklands War.
Dr Jordan adds 1982 Defence Secretary John Nott had had to make “deep cuts” to the Royal Navy, also weakening Britain’s forces.
The defence expert also says “We won’t need that syndrome” deprived Britain of resources that would have helped in Iraq and Afghanistan too.
His report adds: “Succumbing to the temptation to remove capabilities wholesale, while having financial sense... may be attractive but tends to rebound, sometimes upon the governments which have implemented the changes.”
