UK might scrap its aging tank force entirely.

A British Challenger 2 tank (right). BBC.

The United Kingdom could end up scraping its aging tank force entirely. BBC. The Challenger 2 tank has been in service without a major upgrade since 1998. The UK has 227 tanks but only half of them are service ready with the rest in storage. The Army is looking into options including upgrading the tank and its turret as well as possibly buying German Leopard 2 tanks. However, some are suggesting mothballing the tanks entirely to focus on other defense technology. The problem with the UK's armor force goes beyond just tanks as many of their APC's are also old and outdated, with a program to modernize 700 Warrior APC's crippled by delays and and cost overruns. The UK would not be the first force to abandon tanks as the Dutch have also given up their armor while the US Marines have announced they will abandon their armored units as well. 

My Comment:

It's amazing how little money the UK government (and Europe in general) is willing to spend on their defense. It's crazy that they are even considering getting rid of their tank forces. I know they are under a budget crunch but it seems like they should be able to find some money to modernize their tank forces. 

I do think that scrapping their tank force will be a mistake. Though tanks are not as useful as they once were they are very good at supporting infantry and are pretty good in counter insurgency. We saw this in Syria where tanks, despite being less survivable than in other conflicts, gave the government a major advantage over the rebels and terrorists. 

And the tanks are useful in conventional warfare as well. Though they won't survive as long as they did in previous conflicts, they would still play a critical war if the unthinkable happens and Russia goes to war with Europe. Without tanks the UK forces would be hamstrung. 

Of course the status quo isn't great either. The Challenger 2 tanks are very out of date. For comparison, the M1 Abrams, the US tank, has gone through two major upgrades and Russia has introduced five new tank models since the Challenger got updated. The rest of the worlds tanks are more survivable and have better armament and technology than the Challenger 2's. 

I think the major problem is that the UK still assumes that if a war were to break out that America would have their back. We are the elephant in the room and it's very clear that if we were to back the UK in any war we would bear the brunt of the cost. But what happens if we don't show up? The United Kingdom would be screwed to put it bluntly. 

I think it's very foolish for the UK to scrimp and spend on defense. They can't count on America having their back and eventually the United States is going to tire of having one of their major allies being a paper tiger. They need to spend some money to keep their fighting force relevant.