Britain's chances of winning future wars will be ‘seriously damaged’ by more crippling spending cuts, the country’s top soldier has warned.
General Sir Peter Wall, the head of the Army, said further savings likely to be ordered by the Government could prove ‘quite dangerous, quite soon’.
Under current plans, the size of the Army is being reduced from 102,000 three years ago to 82,000 – small enough for every soldier to fit inside Wembley Stadium.
The latest raft of around 5,000 redundancies will be confirmed on Tuesday, shrinking the number of personnel to 90,000 – its lowest level since before the Napoleonic Wars began 200 years ago.
But the Ministry of Defence is expected to be ordered by the Treasury to make further cuts of at least £1billion.
Last night General Wall raised concerns about demanding more savings of the Armed Forces.
He said: ‘Imposing more on us now before the last round of efficiencies have really materialised properly in a balanced way would be very disruptive.
‘We have got to the point in certain areas where we can’t go any further without seriously damaging our professional competence and our chances of success on the battlefields of the future.’
He told Sky’s Jeff Randall that further cuts would leave the Army ‘close’ to dysfunctional.
Former commanders have warned the controversial cuts are too deep, leaving the Army perilously overstretched and unable to take on all the major military commitments demanded by ministers.
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Some 5,000 personnel each from the RAF and Navy have already been made redundant.
General Sir Peter Wall said any further savings could prove 'quite dangerous, quite soon' (file picture)The Government wants to reshape the Army, replacing regular troops by doubling the number of part-time soldiers to 30,000.
Top brass have also been forced to sacrifice aircraft carriers, fast jets and armoured vehicles to save £4.7billion and meet a £38billion overspend in the equipment budget.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the financial bombardment from Chancellor George Osborne would damage our defence capability.
He said: 'Simply trying to salami slice across all areas is likely to lead to the worst possible outcome.
'If we have to make further reductions, I would rather identify specific areas and capabilities that we will agree to gap for a period of time and accept and manage the risks that are involved.'
A RAF Tornado jet. 5,000 personnel each from the RAF and Navy have already been made redundant
Lieutenant General Nick Carter, the most senior British soldier in Afghanistan and the architect of the blueprint to shake up the Army by 2020, said the responsibility for any weakening of the UK’s defence should lie with the Treasury.
He said: 'At the end of the day our politicians need to decide what they want the Army to do.
'If they determine that the Army is going to do less, it's reasonable for them to reduce it still further.
'We are bound as military people to point out the risks during the course of this to our political masters and ultimately it's down to them to look themselves in the mirror each morning and determine whether or not those risks are manageable.'
