Air Marshal Greg Bagwell, former Deputy Commander (Operations) at RAF Air Command and now the
President of the Air & Space Power Association has been tweeting about the recent defence review.
“I have waited a few days to let the totality of the MoD’s Defence Command Paper sink in, and my conclusion is better described here...”
https://rusi.org/commentary/requirin...-command-paper
RUSI
“It marks a real change in the positioning of the UK’s armed forces, ending the era in which they could realistically describe themselves as ‘Tier One’, ‘First in Class’ or ‘Full Spectrum’' writes Professor Peter Roberts in today's second RUSI commentary.
Bagwell continued:
“Ignoring the spin and yet untold truths (which are disappointing but wholly expected in this day and age), any single issue could be argued in isolation as a logical step, but when you add them altogether you cannot form any other conclusion than UK defence will be weaker.”
“The apparent tilt to the Pacific and “tilt” to underwater threats will bend UK Defence out of shape and is as a consequence of having to double down on past (capability) commitments and a muddled (China friend or foe?) grand strategy, but without the resource to back them up.”
“Turning to AirPower specifically: the reduction (yes reduction) in air assets makes us less able to control the air (the key tenet of AirPower). Just as an example, if we knew then that we would gap and reduce our AEW capability, would we have committed to so many P8s?”
“The simple truth is that space, cyber and AI are being used as replacements to mask the losses, when they should have been seen as enhancements. Unfortunately, we have not had the resource to deliver those enhancements without getting rid of the mass we once had.”
This is really devastating criticism from a credible critic.
Whereas our CAS, ACM Sir Mike Wigston is tweeting:
“Today’s Defence Command Paper is our mandate for the Royal Air Force to underpin UK sovereignty, security and prosperity into the future.”
It may well do, but Wigston will be doing that "underpinning" with a significantly smaller force at his disposal, after some significant capability holidays, and having lost some really useful assets. And while Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has criticised some of his parliamentary colleagues for wanting to “play Top Trumps with our force numbers,” there is no doubt that force size can be vitally important, and we should all perhaps remember that quantity has a quality all of its own.