Most of the thoughts nowadays is that non state actors will be the greatest threat to the UK
Will be? They already are and have been for decades.
The UK is a very long way away from Iraq, Afghanistan or even the pirates of Somalia. To actually threaten Great Britain you need to be either inside our borders, or in a position to interfere with trade. The army are not involved in keeping these people out of our country, indeed that task is impossible because most of those who threaten us are British citizens. The RAF see no threat from the air, the skies are fully protected by the security muppets at our airports. The Royal Navy, according to
this report, have just six warships - three Type 23 frigates and three minesweepers - plus two offshore patrol vessels and a support tanker specifically tasked with the protection of UK waters.
Meanwhile the bulk of our military might is focussed hundreds of miles distant; Iraq, from where (we were told) a mad deranged dictator was poised to unleash death and destruction upon our island at just 45 minutes notice and Afghanistan, a place where there were training camps that were used to brainwash young British youths into terrorising our nation. We have on order, at a cost of several billion pounds, two large aircraft carriers intended to give British forces a truly global presence.
To what benefit and to meet what threat? Especially given that the navy appear to have abandoned the defence of our shores. There is great controvery over a number of air superiority fighters the RAF are expecting. These come at a great cost, whether we take delivery or not, but at least these aircraft have the benefit of being capable of defending British airspace. As a citizen and taxpayer, I'd much rather see all three armed forces concentrate their attention on the defence of Great Britain - once their political and military masters wake up to reality and forget about "Force Projection".
But that isn't going to happen. We'll continue to rely on police, immigration officers and "the security industry" to defend our shores while the military are deployed on purely political adventures, thousands of miles away from home.
