Britain needs a citizen army to fight its wars

„Why would one need or even consider an alternative model for the Armed Forces? A force which, in its current guise, has for the past 50 years served Britain exceptionally well; a force we are instinctively comfortable with.

It provided, along with its allies in Nato, a significant part of the shield that successfully checked Soviet adventurism. That model, on which our Armed Forces are still broadly organised, concentrated on providing the means for »mass strike« as the counterbalance to the arrayed forces of the Soviet Union. That time has now passed.

Technology has moved from »mass strike« to »precise strike«, and with it has come the opportunity to seek other ways to solve a problem than sheer slaughter.

We are experiencing a fundamental change in the operational environment that demands a correspondingly radical change in the way we must structure, train and equip. Today, the threats that the UK faces are no less deadly or any less problematic – but they are singularly different. Our enemies, rivals and competitors engage us with a wide range of tools, not all of which are recognised as the weapons they are (cyber-espionage, for example).”