Army chiefs will be reduced by up to a third under the most significant reform of senior command in a century, it has emerged.
The plans are designed to ensure that army, which is shrinking to 82,000 from 102,000 five years ago, will become more streamlined, like its United States counterpart.
The 500,000-strong US army has about 310 officers ranked brigadier-general and above. General Sir Nicholas Carter, the new head of the army, aims to make the force more professional and reduce bureaucracy, which will lead to many of Britain’s 500 colonels and 200 brigadiers and generals being cut, according to The Times.
The last time that the army sought to make its officers more professional was in 1904, when the general staff, comprising everyone from the rank of full colonel and above, was created.
General Carter aims to curtail the rise of “yes men”, who are rewarded for conforming rather than daring to tell their military and political masters uncomfortable truths, sources told The Times.
At the moment, parts of the force are believed to operate like a “self-licking lollipop”, with officers and civil servants generating work for the sake of it.
The general is also seeking to break a culture of loyalty to regiments that prompts some senior officers to put the interests of their “tribe” before those of the wider force, the senior defence sources and Whitehall insiders said.
The changes, which come after a review of Ministry of Defence bureaucracy initiated by Liam Fox when he was defence secretary in 2011, will be implemented from April, known as the Command Review.
Asked about the Command Review, a spokesman for the army said: “It builds on the delegated model that defence has implemented as a result of Lord Levene’s report on defence reforms.
"It will ensure that the army’s command structure and its staff are best placed to meet future challenges in an agile, imaginative and effective manner.
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