The UK will call on 95,000 retirees in a drill to help prepare for war next year as the army has fallen to its smallest size in over 200 years
Around 95,000 retirees are set to get the call up to help the UK prepare for war, according to the Armed Forces minister.
Louise Sandher-Jones revealed that a major drill to mobilise an army of veterans is being planned to take place next year.
She said a “strategic reserve” of 95,000 retired troops will be called into action “on a scale we haven’t seen for a long time”.
The plan comes as fears regarding conflict with Russia increase as Moscow have already threatened British factories over building drones for Ukraine.
The scheme emerges as the government’s cost-cutting on the military is facing scrutiny after it was reported that John Healey, the Chancellor, would fail to commit to spending 3 per cent of gross domestic product on defence by 2030.
The Telegraph reports that the details of the drill are still being finalised but it will test the ability of veterans to be called on and equipped in an emergency.
Ms Sandher-Jones said on Monday: “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 added that the network of former troops would have a crucial role in defending the country, despite it being “a lot less used in my lifetime”.
She continued: “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. We are definitely no longer in that space.”
The Government revealed that it had forgotten much of the network of retired soldiers and officers from the Army, RAF and Navy, so the drill will serve as a test.
Under current law all former regular and reserve officers retain recall liability for life.
The Ministry of Defence are also legally obliged to maintain contact with former military staff in the first six years after they leave full-time service.
This group of former military staff differs from the reserve forces, which is made up from people who volunteer part-time to serve in the military.
There are currently around 32,000 active reservists.
In January it was announced that the age military veterans could be mobilised would rise from 55 to 65.
The current rules also state that retired soldiers can be called upon in the event of “national danger, great emergency or attack in the UK”.
However, a new bill will change this to mean retired soldiers can also be called on for “war-like preparations”.
The changes come as the Army has decreased to its smallest size in over 200 years, with around 71,000 full-time, fully-trained troops ready to deploy to the front line.
Government officials have also stated that Britain does not have an “effective system of tracking and engaging” those that recently left the military and also don’t “know where most” of the reservists are.
Last week the MoD announced that more people had joined the full-time forces than had left it for an entire year for the first time since 2021, however these gains are still small with the Army having only increased by 170 personnel.
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