The British armed forces do not have enough weapons to fight a prolonged war against Russia, a damning report has warned.
MPs have concluded the Army is the UK’s “weakest service” due to “significant capability deficiencies” – which included drastic shortages of vehicles, tanks and even ammunition.
The armed forces are overstretched and losing personnel faster than they can recruit.
A report by the Commons Defence Select Committee says: "UK stockpiles of munitions are far below thelevel required to counter with certainty a threat from the Russian Army."
The panel suggested the “unrelenting pressure” on personnel has exacerbated the crisis in the recruitment and retention of both regulars and reservists, with more people leaving the Armed Forces than joining.
Efforts by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to tackle the problem are not “being carried out at the requiredpace”, the report said.
The MPs urged ministers to ensure that the forces are not deprived of the time, resources and trainingthey need to fight and win a high-intensity prolonged war.
Readiness “is essential to effective deterrence to our adversaries” at a time of heightened geopoliticalinstability, they said.
The committee’s inquiry heard that the “hollowing out” of the Armed Forces since 2010 had undermined the UK’s warfighting resilience, and that their reduction in size meant they would exhaust their capabilities “after the first couple of months of the engagement” in a peer-on-peer war.
It comes after Defence Secretary Grant Shapps last month said the world is “moving from a post-war topre-war world” and the UK must ensure its “entire defence ecosystem is ready” to defend its homeland.
He insisted the size of the Army will not dip below 73,000 under the Conservatives, amid growing concerns about further cuts to troop numbers.
Sir Jeremy Quin, who recently took over as Defence Committee chairman, said: “A steady, continuous drip of operations and ongoing commitments has meant the military is unable to devote sufficient training and resources to high-intensity warfighting.
“While able to deploy at short notice and to fulfil commitments, our inquiry found that readiness for all-out,prolonged war has received insufficient attention and needs intense ongoing focus.
“On top of this, the high tempo of operations and unrelenting pressure on our Services has led to a drop inretention, compounded by a period of low recruitment and difficulties introducing and maintaining capabilities, thereby creating a vicious cycle.”
He said the Government must “either invest fully in our military or recognise that proper prioritisation ofwarfighting will mean less availability for other tasks”.
“We need to be strategic about the resources we have, including how to maintain and replenish stockpiles, and consider how to ensure that equipment – even after retirement – does not go to waste.”
The committee also complained that its inquiry was “hampered” by a “lack of Government transparency” and the “unacceptably slow” response to its requests for information.
Some 20,000 UK service personnel will take part in Nato Exercise Steadfast Defender across Europe, thealliance’s biggest such exercise since the end of the Cold War.
The MoD has been contacted for comment.
