Too many people still do not appreciate immensity of Gen. Carter British Army self-own in 2015. Walk into Review with government on side, get more money to achieve the Division because everybody knows there are problems in actually deploy it. Go batshit crazy with absurd ideas.
The warfighting Division up to 2015 is effectively a "TELIC 2003", which is already a non insignificant ask from an Army smaller than it was in 2003. Deploy a Division with 2x armoured brigades (out of 3) and a third brigade mostly out of 16AA and 3 Cdo.
There are problems with the armoured brigades: stockpile, ageing vehicles. But there is an established double program (WARRIOR CSP+ABSV) to modernize Armoured Infantry by 2026; plus CR2 upgrade (MBT2025). Longer term, "Mechanized Infantry 2029" is to move on from MASTIFF.
Other problems include ageing artillery, insufficient air defence and a deployability problem with armour being back in the UK and Army 2020 (which was also largely Carter driven) having absurdly dismantled the RLC railway capability in a display of complete lack of coherence.
What would a rational person try to do with the money? Stop the railway cut. Protect MBT and IFV upgrades. Do all you can for artillery and air defence and stockpiles.
What does Carter do? Turn the equipment plan on its head to have Mechanized Infantry delivered from 2023.
What does Carter do? Turn the equipment plan on its head to have Mechanized Infantry delivered from 2023.
Not only that, he wants a Division far heavier than TELIC 2003 was. Still with 2 armoured brigades (but 2 out of 2 now) and with a mechanized (STRIKE) brigade on top (1 out of 2). The problem is: nobody smacks this nonsense down. No evil Navy-grown, Navy-focused CDS then...
This absolutely unworkable nonsense carries on all the way to 2019 when, with Carter CDS and the Integrated Review fast approaching. The ultimate gamble is taken: BOXER contract is signed in Dec 2019, before the Review, leaving WARRIOR CSP and CR2 upgrade out in the cold.
Thankfully, Boris does splash out more money. Challenger 2 survives (2 regiments, the cut from 3 to 2 is a Carter-initiated thing from 2015, well before Boris) and indeed becomes Challenger 3 with a big upgrade scope expansion. But WARRIOR CSP, as we know, does not make it.
There is an alternate universe somewhere in which the British Army does not shoot itself in the chest in 2015 and is in better shape now. There is probably another reality in the multiverse in which AJAX (literally Carrier-sized budget) is not such a nonsense project too.
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