UK Likely Can’t Fight Past One Week Amid Humiliating Weapons Shortage, Ex-Officer Warns

While the United States ramps up its missile production, the current British stockpile will hardly last over a week according to retired British Army Colonel Richard Kemp.

In an op-ed for The Telegraph, Kemp wrote the United Kingdom is “taking its customary plodding approach” to the current “unprecedented” demand for missile stocks.

“Knowledgeable observers have suggested that our munitions stocks – from rifle bullets and artillery shells to long range missiles and drones – would see out only about a week of intensive fighting,” he wrote. “That’s even taking account of the fact that our Armed Forces are now very small, having been repeatedly hollowed out by successive governments.”

“Even the handful of soldiers and tanks we could put into the field would be out of ammo in a matter of days,” Kemp added.

The British government has given away what they do have to Ukraine in their war against Russia, according to the retired colonel, who says the “cupboards” are “now worryingly bare.” The United Kingdom has been one of Ukraine’s lead donors, according to a 2025 report from the House of Commons Library. A U.K. government fact sheet updated in February of 2026 states “the UK has committed up to £21.8 billion for Ukraine,” including £13 billion in military support.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced in late January 2026 that it signed a “framework agreement” with the Department of War which would “quadruple the production capacity of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors, from 96 to 400 interceptors per year.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth previously announced reforms to “procurement” in November 2025, providing incentives to new and existing firms to invest in the defense sector.

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