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Seven years of fighting on two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan have left the armed forces ill-prepared to take on any new tasks, MPs warned.
The Commons Defence Committee said that the forces need a period of "effective recuperation" after an extended period operating above normal planning assumptions.
Outlining the toll taken over the past years, it described how RAF pilots were unable to train because aircraft were tied up on operations, the Navy had too many commitments, while senior generals believed the Army needed another 10,000 troops.
The committee fired a warning shot across the bows of a possible incoming Tory government, cautioning against cuts in an emergency "stringency budget" which could leave it unable to carry through the strategic defence review (SDR) promised by all the main parties.
In its report, the committee said it is "unsatisfactory" that the readiness of the forces to carry out contingent tasks not connected with current operations overseas have fallen to such an extent.
The MPs said that the current defence planning assumptions - that the forces are supposed to be resourced to maintain one enduring medium-scale operation and one small-scale operation - are "out of step with what is happening in reality".
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The Army in particular had suffered, the committee said, with training exercises cancelled and the time between tours of duty cut.
It quoted Lieutenant General Sir Graeme Lamb, Commander of the Field Army, who said that his fellow senior officers believe that the Army needs to be expanded from around 102,000 troops to 112,000 to meet the demands placed on it.
"The Army has been working at full stretch," it said. "Given the high tempo of operations over the last eight years, it is not surprising that some senior Army officers think that there needs to be a bigger Army."
