The British Army is considering phasing out fossil-fuel-powered tanks, APCs and lorries in order to save the planet and to attract more recruits who are worried about global warming.

No, really.

These are the words of Britain’s senior army officer, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, speaking at a defence and security event in London yesterday.

The Telegraph reports:

Calling on British industry to lead the way on developing new sources of energy for the military, he added: “The challenge, and genuine commercial opportunity, is to aim high and lead the world in the development of military equipment which is not only battle-winning but also environmentally sustainable. “That gives the British Army considerable operational benefits, such as reducing our logistical drag, and also puts the Army … on the right side of the environmental argument, especially in the eyes of that next generation of recruits that increasingly make career decisions based on a prospective employer’s environmental credentials.”

There is so much stupid here that it is hard to know where to begin.

On the recruitment front, it surely ought to be obvious to almost anyone apart from this wooden-topped Rupert – with his lower second class university degree – that bunny-hugging eco-loons are the very last people ever to want to join the Army. The only thing that might change their dope-addled minds is if it redesignated itself the Peace Corps and renounced its combat role altogether. But that might leave an awkward gap in Britain’s defence capabilities.

Then again, what kind of loon would even want to join a military so careless of its proper purpose that it apparently puts more value on green virtue-signalling than it does on operational effectiveness?

There is currently no renewable energy source that could conceivably power the Army’s military equipment – nor is there likely to be any time soon.

Young men and women prepared to risk their lives for their country need to know that in return, their country is going to do its level best to ensure that they go into battle with best equipment for the job.

Once you start prioritising other goals — appeasing Mother Gaia; trying to get friendly write-ups from the Guardian and the BBC; trying to persuade recruits that war has more to do with saving polar bears than killing the enemy — then you send a very clear message to the taxpayers who fund you: we incapable of defending you properly. And an even clearer message to the enemy: we are not serious so please, walk all over us.

If I were China, Russia or any other country that fancies having a pop at the UK in the next world war, I would be absolutely delighted by General Carleton-Smith’s weapons-grade idiocy.

How consoling it must be for them knowing that there’s now absolutely no need to try to overmatch Britain’s (already pretty puny) Armoured Divisions.

All our enemies will now have to do is wait for our tanks to trundle forward for a few miles, maybe leave it till darkness has fallen – then strike the moment their solar batteries have run out.