[QUOTE=Not_a_boffin;11402667][QUOTE=pr00ne;11402637]
the here and now where there is a major land war raging in Europe -
which we are supporting the Ukrainians with. Indeed largest contributor by value behind the US
a wounded and distrustful (and very much in the wrong!) Russia is chucking nuclear threats about to all and sundry -
Which is why CASD is still being maintained, something the Labour party as a whole has issues with
and meanwhile the Tories are proceeding with their plans to reduce the Army by thousands - See earlier. What are these thousands to do? Why is the British army still 20% bigger than the Bundeswehr and bigger than the Polish army after that reduction?
Then why have an Army at all? Are you a pacifist? Poland has just ordered 1,400 IFV's, 366 M1 Abrahams and 1,000 Korean MBT's, so I think that their Army is a little larger than you think. They have announced an increase anyway, as have the Germans.
retire Typhoons and Hercules without replacement - I won'r disagree combat air is too small. A400 will replace the C130 fully in a couple of years.
22 Atlas C1's. The 14 C-130J's will go without replacement. No plans announced for any additional Atlas procurement. Massive cut in tactical airlift.
, retire Frigates and Survey ships without replacement, - T
he replacements for the frigates are on contract and in build. Availability of DD/FF has actually increased over the last 2-3 years. You might ask why the last labour government refused to fund what became the T26 programme three times to my knowledge. The survey ships are a big bet on autonomy. MROSS will also cover some of it.
refusing to increase Artillery or Air Defence provision which is currently woeful -
acknowledged as such by SoS and prioritised, rather than refused.
, and expecting the Army to operate on the battlefield without IFV's, being the only major Army in the world to do such a thing -
That's more to do with the army's inability to sort its llfe out, surely? OH that is SO true! Same for the above point.
. The Germans have announced a hundred billion increase in the defence budget - t
hey have. Over five years. But are struggling to actually secure and spend it.
What happened to the German military's €100 billion fund? – DW – 03/02/2023
France is increasing theirs by a third, Sweden, Norway and Finland doing something similar, the Australians ramping up rapidly and outnumbering the UK in things like P-8 and E-7 and F-35's. And we now have a paltry £11bn increase over 5 year, with £3bn of that being for nuclear infrastructure to benefit us in the 2040's and £2bn being replacement of stockpiles sent to Ukraine, so the remaining £6bn over 5 years will amount to an effective cut when inflation is taken into account. -
you're ignoring the £24Bn announced previously, of course... NO I'M NOT, that was two years ago.
And all you can do is twitter on about historical socialists! - To coin a phrase "they (Abbot and Corbyn and their many fans in the party) haven't gone away you know".
AS FAR AS CABINET GOVERNMENT AND POLICY AND INFLUENCE GOES, OH YES THEY HAVE!