More than 10,000 soldiers serving in the British armed forces are “medically unfit for military service”, according to figures from the country’s Ministry of Defence, The Guardian reported.
Responding to a parliamentary question about the readiness of British armed forces soldiers, Defence Secretary Alistair Carnes revealed that 99,560 service members are medically fit for full deployment, with 14,350 having limited deployment and 13,522 medically unfit for deployment.
The Royal Navy has 2,922 medically unfit personnel, the Army has 6,879 in this category and the Royal Air Force has 3,721.
The newspaper quoted a Ministry of Defence spokesman as saying: “The vast majority of our service members – around 90% – are deployable at any given time, with most of the remaining members of our armed forces employed in wider military roles.”
According to what it followed, the Ministry of Defence statistics showed as of April 2024 that the army has not reached its target size for the first time since it was set.
It explained that all three branches of service are now below the target: the army by 1%, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines by 5%, and the Royal Air Force by 10%, adding that “overall, the number of British military personnel is about 5,440 (1%) short of the target.”
The newspaper also indicated that there is speculation that the United Kingdom may consider sending troops to Ukraine to help train its armed forces, after Keir Starmer held a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
