British Army suspends non-essential exercises due to financial difficulties

The army has been ordered to stop "non-essential" training exercises to save costs, according to a BBC source at the UK Ministry of Defense.

It is planned to continue training for military personnel preparing to deploy or already on deployment, for example, units sent to Estonia, the Falkland Islands or Cyprus.

However, units in the UK that are not preparing for a specific deployment have been ordered to reduce the number of collective exercises due to financial constraints.

It comes amid pressure on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to increase defense spending.

The government plans to increase defense spending to 2.5% of GDP by next year, but is under growing pressure to reach the 3% target by the end of the decade.

A defense source said the plans meant abandoning what he called "desirable training" such as large-scale live fire exercises and platoon attack training at UK training sites such as Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire and Sennybridge in Wales.

Planned exercises that were due to take place but have now been cancelled, reportedly include a live-fire exercise with the Royal Tank Regiment in Wales and a separate exercise involving tanks and Apache helicopters.

“It was not the army’s choice,” the source said. The pause is expected to last most of this year.

Other specialized training aimed at modernizing the Army, such as drone and counter-drone training, is expected to continue.

The Army says it prioritizes training based on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine and considers each training request on an individual basis.

Even though the government is increasing defense spending, the Ministry of Defense continues to have difficulty funding all of its investment plans.

Much of the new funds are earmarked for specific capital projects, including new weapons programs. However, the training portion of the Defense Department's budget remains under significant pressure.

An Army spokesman said, "Our training continues and we are prioritizing activities that most contribute to readiness, deployability and operational effectiveness."

“We are also investing £2 billion to modernize the British Army's training system over the next 15 years,” he added.

During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, the chairman of the House of Commons Defense Committee, Labour's Tan Singh Dhesi, warned of the need for investment in the armed forces and called on Burnham to commit to achieving a defense spending level of 3% of GDP by 2030.

The Prime Minister responded: “I have made that commitment very clear and have been doing so for quite some time.”

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The government's indecision on defense spending was one of the reasons for the downfall of the government of Burnham's predecessor, Keir Starmer - former defense secretary John Healey resigned in response to the prime minister's plans to finance the armed forces.

Plans set out in the Defense Investment Plan (DIP) will see defense spending rise to 2.7% of GDP by 2027/28, but there is no clear indication of how further spending increases will be implemented after that date.

The Treasury has consistently said the government will present plans to achieve the 3% and 3.5% targets at the spending review due next year.