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

The U.K. will stage an unusually large veteran reserve readiness exercise next year amid growing U.S. pressure to increase its 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