American and European generals fear the UK is no longer a top-level fighting force as a Times analysis reveals the army will have fewer than 70,000 soldiers within two years.
Figures show that if the army continues to lose troops at its present rate, the number of regular soldiers will fall to 67,741 by 2026 — a drop of 40 per cent since 2010.
At that rate, the army will be 52,000 strong in a decade’s time, small enough to fit inside Manchester’s Etihad Stadium.
The figures underline the scale of the crisis in the military against a backdrop of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. This week a top Nato military official said that western countries must prepare themselves for all-out war with
