Depressing (re-) read - Defence under Thatcher
I found my copy of Andrew Dorman's 2002 book and had a re-read.
I'd forgotten how depressing it was.
A constant 10 year succession of fights and plots by each service, the MOD, the politicians and the constructors against each other and all against the Treasury all the time with the 3 month exception of the Falkland's War.
What comes through is the inevitability of gross overstretch in tasks, appalling overspends and total lack of recognition about what they could actually deliver and what the country could or would actually spend.
I wish I could think that things were better now but I have my doubts.