Britain to call veterans back into uniform in huge war mobilisation drill as Russia threat grows
A group from the “strategic reserve” of 95,000 retired troops will be called into action “on a scale we haven’t seen for a long time”, the Armed Forces Minister has said.
Britain is preparing to call military veterans back into service in a major mobilisation exercise as the Armed Forces test how quickly they could put thousands of former troops back into uniform in the event of war.
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A group drawn from the UK’s 95,000-strong “strategic reserve” of former servicemen and women will be mobilised next year in an exercise Armed Forces Minister Louise Sandher-Jones said would take place on a scale not seen for years.
The drill will test whether the Ministry of Defence can find former troops, call them up, equip them and get them ready for service during a crisis, as Britain increasingly prepares for the possibility of a major conflict in Europe.
It comes amid repeated warnings over the threat posed by Russia, with Moscow threatening British defence factories supplying equipment to Ukraine and Western intelligence officials warning that Vladimir Putin’s campaign of sabotage and disruption risks triggering a wider confrontation through miscalculation.
Speaking to the House of Lords national resilience committee, Ms Sandher-Jones said the strategic reserve would now become a much more serious part of Britain’s defence planning.
“The strategic reserve is a real commitment for those that are in it and they will be exercised as part of our exercise programme next year where we will go through measures to call out, use, equip and all the rest of the procedures we’d have to go through to use the strategic reserve properly,” she said.
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The former Army intelligence officer added that the reserve had been “a lot less used in my lifetime”, recalling how little significance she attached to it after leaving the military herself.
“When I left the Army and found out I was in the strategic reserve, I just filed it away and never thought about it again,” she said. “We are definitely no longer in that space.”
It is not yet clear how many veterans will take part in the exercise, but the operation will represent a significant test for the MoD after senior defence figures admitted the military does not even have an effective system for keeping track of many of those who could potentially be recalled.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, who led last year’s Strategic Defence Review, previously warned officials did not “know where most” strategic reservists were and urged the Government to identify those who were still available, fit and willing to serve.
Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton has also warned Britain does not have “an effective system of tracking and engaging” personnel after they leave the Armed Forces.
The strategic reserve is separate from the almost 32,000 active reservists who currently serve part-time across the Army, Royal Navy and RAF.
Under existing rules, former regular and reserve officers retain a liability to be recalled for life, while other former personnel can remain liable for several years after leaving service.
The Government is now expanding that pool further.
Ministers announced in January that the maximum age at which some military veterans could be mobilised would rise from 55 to 65, while new legislation will also make it easier to call former troops back into service before Britain is actually under attack.
At present, strategic reservists can be mobilised in circumstances including “national danger, great emergency or attack on the UK”.
Under changes due to come into force next spring, that threshold will be lowered to include “war-like preparations” – allowing the Government to begin mobilising former personnel while the country is preparing for a potential conflict rather than waiting until a national emergency has already erupted.
The plans come as concerns grow over the size and readiness of Britain’s Armed Forces.
The Army has fallen to around 71,000 full-time, fully-trained troops, its smallest size for more than two centuries, while cost-cutting has reportedly forced some training within the Army’s 3rd Division to be cancelled or postponed.
Live-firing exercises have also reportedly been suspended in some units until April in an effort to save money.
There have been some early signs of improvement in recruitment, with the MoD announcing last week that more people had joined the full-time Armed Forces than left over a 12-month period for the first time since 2021.
But the increases remain relatively small. Army strength rose by around 170 personnel, while the RAF gained 840 and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines around 440.
The mobilisation exercise will also place renewed pressure on the Government over defence spending, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham facing questions over whether Britain can rebuild its Armed Forces quickly enough to meet the growing threat.
The Government has pledged to eventually increase defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035, but the Treasury confirmed last month that it would not set out a timetable for reaching three per cent until next year’s spending review.
Britain is expected to spend around 2.6 per cent of GDP on defence by the end of this year, while the Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated reaching three per cent by 2030 could require roughly another £10 billion a year.
The decision to start practising the mobilisation of former troops is one of the clearest signs yet that defence planners are looking beyond the size of the Armed Forces Britain has today, and beginning to work out how the country would rapidly build a much larger force if war came.