The Conservatives have pledged to reform the Ministry of Defence if they win the next election.
Liam Fox, shadow defence secretary, said that a future Tory government would launch both a "wide ranging and detailed" strategic defence review and a capabilities review.
He stressed that "all options for reform, no matter how radical" would be considered.
"There are questions for all three services as to whether they have an over abundance of senior posts," Fox said.
"How do we stop the trend where the military seems consistently to shrink while the civil service keeps growing?
"How do we reward merit and excellence and end the absurdity of the Buggins' turn culture, and how do we stop the trend where the military seems consistently to shrink while the civil service keeps growing?
"Currently, there is one civilian for every two armed forces personnel in the Ministry of Defence – 16 per cent of the civil service is in the Ministry of Defence.
"There are almost the same number of civilians in the MoD as there are personnel serving in the army.
"We need to do a proper capability review which looks at all aspects of manning and force structure to ensure that we have the right balance of personnel, both in and out of uniform."
Fox also promised "root and branch reform" of procurement.
"Reforming the procurement process will be no easy task," he accepted.
"In fact, it will probably prove to be the greatest challenge in terms of increasing the efficiency of the MoD."
He added that the MoD needed "new vision, fresh thinking, and new leadership", which a new government can provide.
"Increasingly the public are wakening up to the sorry state of defence under Labour," he said.
"It is likely to be an election issue for the first time since the end of the Cold War."
Armed forces minister Bill Rammell branded some of the Tory proposals "misguided".
"The government is already implementing a major reform programme," he said.
"We have taken steps to reduce the civilian workforce wherever we can without putting troops at risk and over the last four years we have reduced the number of civil servants from 109,000 to 85,730.
"We have committed to a strategic defence review early in the next parliament and have begun this process through an upcoming green paper.
"This defence review will examine issues including lessons learnt from recent operations and the scope for more effective acquisition.
"An acquisition reform team under Lord Drayson is already in place to start implementing the recommendations of the Gray report, which was commissioned by the MoD."
