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'When deployed on a multinational exercise the army is unable to communicate with its Nato counterparts without the US providing communications equipment ...

'The only Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) supply ship, Fort Victoria, is undergoing maintenance in Liverpool until the end of the year. Two similar vessels were sold to Egypt and replacements are not due until 2031.

'While the Royal Navy has two aircraft carriers, it has relied upon US F-35 jets to fly off them in the past because the UK has been slow to order its own F-35s.

'Although the UK has six destroyers only two of them are currently operational, he said, and are unable to defeat such complex threats [PRC ballistic missiles].

'Britain is spending millions of pounds a year to send pilots overseas for training because the RAF does not have enough fast-jet training aircraft available.

The UK PM has the right idea in spending less on ODA and more on defence. Also, the concerns expressed by sources here are the same expressed by a chunk of Indian DIB Twitter re the Indian MoD/military sacrificing purely indigenous capability development for foreign gear (eg the foreshadowed Stryker deal neglecting indigenous WhAPs, a superior platform for use along the LAC).
https://archive.md/a6TbP