Cuts to the UK's armed forces will limit the country's ability to be a major player on the world stage, a former US defence secretary has warned.
Robert Gates said the spending squeeze would mean the UK could no longer be a full military partner of the US.
By 2020, the government plans to reduce the number of Army, RAF and Royal Navy personnel by thousands.
The Ministry of Defence says Britain still has the fourth largest defence budget in the world.
But Mr Gates, who served under presidents Obama and Bush, singled out cuts to the Navy as particularly damaging.
'Hollowed out'
Interviewed by BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he noted that - for the first time since World War One - Britain did not have an operational aircraft carrier.
"With the fairly substantial reductions in defence spending in Great Britain, what we're finding is that it won't have full spectrum capabilities and the ability to be a full partner as they have been in the past," he said.
There have been many voices warning of the scale of this government's defence cuts. But it will be harder to ignore that of Robert Gates, a man who served two US presidents of very different political persuasions, and oversaw the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Not a man given to hyperbole, Mr Gates doesn't say the special relationship is dead. But he does believe that it's been fundamentally altered by the scale of Britain's defence cuts. He says without the "full spectrum" of military capabilities, Britain will not be able to be a "full partner". Given the unpopularity of the wars during his tenure, some may now be breathing a sigh of relief. But that's not true for senior politicians and military brass inside the MoD. They value being so close to the most powerful military nation on earth.
Mr Gates's intervention is unlikely to reverse the cuts. But his comments will still hurt, and wound pride. It will also fuel the debate as to Britain's place in the world.
The spectrum refers to the ability of a country's military to fight across air, sea and land.
Mr Gates's comments echo the concerns of other senior military figures.
The Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nicholas Houghton, warned last month Britain could be left with the "spectre" of a hollowed-out force.
Under the government's plans the Army will lose 20,000 soldiers, the Navy 6,000 personnel and the RAF 5,000.
Prime Minister David Cameron insisted in 2011 the UK retained a "pretty full spectrum capability" after the three service chiefs warned its reach would be diminished.
Jonathan Beale, the BBC's defence correspondent said the American's latest intervention would be unlikely to reverse the cuts but would wound Britain's pride.
The MoD defended the level of military spending, adding that the UK had the best trained and equipped armed forces anywhere outside the US.
Sumber : BBC
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