UK to test military veteran recall amid US scrutiny of defense posture

A reservist with the British Army's 19th Light Brigade aims his rifle during Exercise Rhino Heart at the Sennelager Training Area in Germany, Oct. 13, 2025. The exercise drew more than 800 reservists in what the British Army called its largest such deployment since the Cold War, a year before Britain plans to test mobilizing its separate strategic reserve of former troops. (Graeme Main/UK Ministry of Defence) RAF MILDENHALL, England – The United Kingdom will stage an unusually large veteran reserve readiness exercise next year amid growing U.S. pressure to increase its defense posture. The U.K.'s Armed Forces Minister Louise Sandher-Jones announced the exercise Monday to a parliamentary committee in London that was established earlier this year to look at how the country prepares for and endures crises at the national and local levels. The major exercise would involve members of Britain's military strategic reserve, she told the committee in the meeting, streamed on a government site. The force consists almost entirely of military veterans, which the BBC estimated includes some 95,000 retired regular and reserve personnel. The exercise will 'go through measures to call out, to use and equip' the reserve troops, Sandher-Jones said. It will challenge the Defense Ministry 'on a scale that we haven't seen for a very long time' on its ability to react to a conflict she said. The exact number of reserve participants in next year's exercise has yet to be specified publicly. Whether the U.S. or other NATO allies will be involved is also unconfirmed. The announcement comes as Britain is facing mounting pressure from the U.S. to raise defense spending. Britain is expected to receive 'special attention' in a Pentagon review of their commitment to NATO spending goals, The Telegraph reported last month, citing an unnamed senior U.S. official. At the time, Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby was in Brussels to discuss with NATO ambassadors the Defense Department's review of U.S. force posture in Europe, which would take into account their defense commitments. The U.S. could also oppose recognition of U.K. sovereignty over the Falkland Islands if spending does not rise further, the Telegraph reported. The group of islands about 300 miles off the southeastern coast of Argentina have been British overseas territory since 1833, despite Argentine claims to them that led to an invasion and short-lived war with Britain in 1982. The exercise follows a measure in January that raised the maximum age that strategic reserve members could be recalled from 55 years old to 65. The age was increased in case 'warlike preparations' were needed, in addition to the current requirement for 'national danger, great emergency, or attack on the U.K.' Sandher-Jones, who served as a former British Army intelligence officer, told the parliamentary committee Monday that when she found out she was a member of the strategic reserve after leaving the service, she 'filed it away and never thought about it again.' But now, she told them, 'the strategic reserve is a real commitment for those who are in it.' The efforts to exercise the mobilization of aging veterans comes as the British military has seen a dramatic decrease in recruits in recent years. A Ministry of Defense Strategic Defense Review report found that the number of people joining the U.K.'s regular forces fell 47% over the past 25 years.