£1bn defence cut next year

[Navaleye]

The Evening Standard's Robert Fox is reporting that £1bn is to be cut from the defence budget next year and allocated to "homeland defence". At least one major procurement will get canned. FRES and CVF are the most likely candidates along with Nimrod.

Comments invited.

[Mr-AEO]

Unlikely to be CVF given the JCA angle.

What about ASTUTE or not taking the option for another 2 Type 45?

[STANDTO]

What about the Reds :}

(see why can't red ten use the bus)

[ZH875]

At least one major procurement will get canned
My guess:

Tranche 3 Typhoon to be navalised to equip the FAA
FSTA cancelled, but 6 ex-C-130K bought at twice the price we sold them for.
Chinook HC3 to be sold to pay MOD damage claims bill.

[Mr-AEO]

Chinook HC3 to be sold to pay MOD damage claims bill.
:rolleyes: You assume they are still worth something?!

[Danny_Boy]

Get rid of all the techies - these modern planes are much more reliable. Get rid of all the clerks - we have JPA now so don't need them. Get rid of all the chefs - people can eat ready meals on det and at home units. Get rid of all the medics - we are all CCS trained in first aid for crying out loud.

Make sure we keep the musicians though - they are vital.

Hope G Brown and D Browne aren't reading this...

[ZH875]

:rolleyes: You assume they are still worth something?!They must be worth something, the fuel tanks have some fuel in them:)

[mutleyfour]

Get rid of the RAF Police and save a fortune..
:ugh: :D

[Confucius]

They must be worth something, the fuel tanks have some fuel in them:)

It's been done, and someone made a lot of cash.

[Brewster Buffalo]

My guess:
Tranche 3 Typhoon to be navalised to equip the FAA
.
or

"... But the pressure to sell the plane abroad has forced the department to agree a reduction of at least 24 in the number BAE pledged to include in the second delivery, in order to satisfy the Saudis. The RAF will at least have to wait longer to get its full complement. But defence sources last night suggested the Saudi order could be used to "get the MoD off the hook", and allow the government to cancel the third tranche without incurring huge cancellation fees."

(My emphasis)

Full story here

http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=860512006

[BEagle]

Longing to see how prOOne will describe such a cut imposed by his Noo Labour luvvies as an increase in real terms......

[WE Branch Fanatic]

I haven't heard from Comrade pr00ne for ages.............

[ScapegoatisaSolution]

If the cut is 'spent' somewhere else then someone will see an increase in their budget. Bury the news about the cut and shout about the increase...

[RonO]

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article799572.ece

[SARREMF]

I keep saying..... I'll go! I will happily take myself off the defence budget [apart form the pension bit of course].

[LFFC]

My guess:

Tranche 3 Typhoon to be navalised to equip the FAA
FSTA cancelled, but 6 ex-C-130K bought at twice the price we sold them for.
Chinook HC3 to be sold to pay MOD damage claims bill.


I wonder if this move might make PFI less attractive? (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1A55LBLCAZZMDQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/money/2006/06/25/cnbrown25.xml)

From The Telegraph. Brown poised to break key fiscal rule
By Robert Watts (Filed: 25/06/2006)
Gordon Brown is poised to smash one of his highly prized fiscal rules because of new plans to bring billions of pounds of debts from the Private Finance Initiative onto the Government's books.

The inclusion of the controversial PFI deals, under which £53bn of public sector assets has been procured, will add billions of pounds to the national debt and almost certainly lead to the breaking of the chancellor's "sustainable investment" rule - that net debt should not rise above 40 per cent of gross domestic product.

I wonder what impact this will have to several of our major projects?

[DaveyBoy]

At least one major procurement will get canned... [possibly] Nimrod.

LOL! Go on, tell us another :D

[BEagle]

But presumably not a couple of aircraft-less carriers to take the RN from cockersP to cockersP around the world at a sedate pace?

The Army needs more armoured vehicles urgently, the RAF needs protective systems in its AT/AAR and RW aircraft urgently... The RN? Well, perhaps HMS Victory needs a bit more paint.

The RAF now has a recce capability GAP (not 'holiday':yuk:) with the PR9 finally reaching its shagged-out by date.

But a few more EuropHoons for the pointy heads to rush around in going 'bang bang, you're dead' thousands of miles from the nearest war will undoubtedly be sacrosanct. Apart, that is, from the ones going to Saudi Arabia.

How is Nimrod 2000 coming along?

And as for a mere 9 A330 MRTT which have yet to be confirmed....:(

[NURSE]

would this be why certain creative and arty trades are being done away with as part of the RAF's contribution.

[buoy15]

NIMROD?
Not In My Remit On Defence - say's every SofS for Defence since that "Silly Billy" Healey

[fantaman]

What about Blair Force One?

[DaveyBoy]

How is Nimrod 2000 coming along?

OK, we're told. Although they're a little bit delayed so we might not get them by 2000 now.

[vecvechookattack]

Weve been through this though....We don't need a new Nimrod...there is no requirment... Bin it

[althenick]

Weve been through this though....We don't need a new Nimrod...there is no requirment... Bin it

I don't know about that but we definitely need some kind LRMP, Just may be not as elabourate as nimrod.

[Radar Riser]

Vecvechookattack

Could you please me what you base your argument on? Only, I'd like to tell the missus why I'm spending nearly half the year, every year, away OOA.:confused:

Now that the SHAR force has gone, perhaps we can retire the carrier fleet, that should save some money. Oh that's right, they do other things aswell, apart from carrying fast jets! Muppet:p

RR

[vecvechookattack]

Retire the Carrier fleet !!!!!! Switch on fella. Where have you been? We retired the Carrier Fleet 3 years ago. We have but the singleton left and at the moment she is far far away

[Radar Riser]

Vec

I thought we still had 2. Aswell as Argus and Ocean. Ok, not exactly carriers, not in the traditional sense, but still carriers after a fashion.

I wasn't trying to pi$$ you off, but I get a bit defensive when people make ill informed statements about something they don't know.

ASW is not totally dead, we still train for it. Lots of countries in strategic choke points have submarines, and indeed are buying and developing them. What does that tell you? Remember, the Germans went glider crazy in the thirties, whilst we were downsizing.

[Shackman]

We retired the Carrier Fleet 3 years ago
I thought we retired The Carrier Fleet in the early 70's, and bought some 'Through Deck Cruiser' thingies so that the FAA fast jet fraternity could play on when they weren't needed for carrying helicopters (although I will admit they were useful in the Falklands).

Retires to bunker with tin hat and supplies for long siege

[Razordome]

My guess:

Tranche 3 Typhoon to be navalised to equip the FAA.

But we dont want it !!! - second hand rubbish.

[Razordome]

But presumably not a couple of aircraft-less carriers to take the RN from cockersP to cockersP around the world at a sedate pace?
...:(

Guess we will see you in the Falklands in the next couple of years then - in your Vulcans!! hehe. Where were the RAF mudmovers over Afganistan?. Luckily Naval assets (admittedly not RN as HAD NO REAL CARRIERS) dropped the iron. Don't tell me, the RAF can cover the world (by moving Australia again:D ). While we are waiting for the next war, we shall enjoy our cockersP (only because the CDR ordered us to)

Standingby...

[BEagle]

We have to move Australia to stop dull fish-heads bumping their boats into the only rocks for thousands of miles......

[SARREMF]

Wasn't actually our Naval assets that 'dropped' the iron though was it! It was the big buys not us from the kindagarten trying to act older!

[Razordome]

Now that the SHAR force has gone, perhaps we can retire the carrier fleet, that should save some money. Oh that's right, they do other things aswell, apart from carrying fast jets! Muppet:p
RR

Soon the carriers will just be RAF airfields. They are already trying to cut RN GR7A pilots to 30% of total GR 7 fleet force. To be honest I take my hat off to the RAF....excellent paperwork, political moving etc....completely outflanking the RN muppets at the top. I have seen the CVS turn from a carrier of sorts (but an excellent RN team), to a floating RAF airbase..that the RN tries to run like a Frigate (or going that way quickly. ). They will certainly not be a strike carrier however...just an airfield!! Shame.

I know what, lets cut more useless RAF bases and give them the carriers in replacement - but they need to pay as the RN can not pay to keep the nations nuclear force going AND the new RAF bases.

Back to reality....role on the next Falklands war, then the need for CVF will strike home. Lets hope the Argentinians can wait until we are ready.

[Razordome]

We have to move Australia to stop dull fish-heads bumping their boats into the only rocks for thousands of miles......

S:mad: T, I have no come back!!!! Didn't see that coming.:uhoh:

Still, at least it was a fishhead that crashed it, not a WAFU.

[Razordome]

Wasn't actually our Naval assets that 'dropped' the iron though was it! It was the big buys not us from the kindagarten trying to act older!

Was not our assets.....because we have none as it is better to spend on Typhoon (or that is what I have been told). Still if CVF survives, maybe the RAF will let the RN use its GR7A to do some bomb dropping one day.

[vecvechookattack]

S:mad: T, I have no come back!!!! Didn't see that coming.:uhoh:
Still, at least it was a fishhead that crashed it, not a WAFU.


If only that was true. I think you'll find that it was a WAFU who crashed it.

[180byzip]

S:mad: T, I have no come back!!!! Didn't see that coming.:uhoh:

Still, at least it was a fishhead that crashed it, not a WAFU.

Funny I thought the XO had conduct at the time of the grounding and he is a bagman by trade

[Skeleton]

Bin the RAF Harrier.. did nothing after the Falklands for years, then learnt to land on a boat.

Only went to part 2 of the GW because they had managed to get enough people in the right places of power, to put enough pressure on to give them a war to go to. What did it do when it got there, produced a video of the action "from the cockpit" - wow!

Can't carry enough when taking off vertically, can only carry a bit when doing its short take off thing, and has to dump its load when not used, to land on the boat, hence the FARP concept.

Jaguar is cheaper and was more effective money wise than the Harrier will ever be.

It hovers - big deal! Use it the American Marine way or don't bother.

[SubdiFuge]

Skeleton

Ask the lads in the Helmand Task Force if the Harrier is doing anything important for them right now!

[Skeleton]

Subdi no doubt it is, but it could be done by other aircraft.

Much malained as it was, with the Jaguar you got a lot of bang for your buck.

The Tornado has also proven its worth.

[SubdiFuge]

Do you honestly think the Jag could do anything at 50 degrees celcius?

I thought KAF runway was limited length at the minute as well - I'm sure that when its repaired we will see GR4 and Typhoon out there.

[jonny5]

Reds need to go! Yep they look pretty and make noises but apart from being a bloody good jolly for all connected with the reds, they are utterly pointless! I am sure the RAF could provide a good display team with training hawks, as the navy does! Waste of money, get rid of them!:*