Urgent Operational Requirements are emergency procurement tools and cannot support routine force planning indefinitely. Heavy reliance on them can leave a service with legacy equipment and capabilities that become difficult to maintain. Modern equipment also brings a larger support burden, so sustaining the same fighting strength can require more people. A rough comparison runs from a few thousand people in a Napoleonic division to about 15,000 to 20,000 in a Second World War division, with today's British Army described as likely to struggle to assemble an equivalent formation.
Notable Point · 1:31:09-1:32:35
Why emergency procurement creates long-term force burdens
A procurement discussion explains how emergency acquisitions can create legacy burdens and how increasingly complex forces demand more support manpower.