From The Times today 22 March 2018. Managing expectations?
“The armed forces must be ready to slay some “sacred cows” to free up cash for new and more deployable technologies, the top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence has said.
Stephen Lovegrove did not specify which pieces of military equipment he had in mind but said that some capabilities were not deployed very often or were perhaps no longer able to keep the military personnel using them safe from modern threats.
Jesus H Christ, does this man ever learn?
Let’s get rid of capability we never use. Like the CBRN Regiment? And just look how that turned out. Nimrod MPA? Clearly as an island nation we have no need of such a capability. These may not have been his call, but the lessons from those decisions are clear. A global expeditionary capability and top tier status needs investment. Or do we no longer need to physically defeat enemies and hold ground? Not a view that Putin, Xi or our US and NATO allied subscribe to last time I checked.
The myopic incompetence of the managers - they aren’t leaders - is quite simply astonishing. Of course there will be no reduction in demand, just fewer people expected to do more with old kit not designed for the job. Does it really take a significant military loss before they actually bother to invest in the military? Of course it’s a lot easier when neither they nor their sons & daughters will have to deal with the fallout.
Incandescent doesn’t begin to describe it! Do the job you’re paid to do and fight for the Department rather than rolling over and dismantling it! And if you can’t put a case together then step aside for someone who can.