David Cameron ‘rules out slash and burn defence cuts’
Robert Fox and Martin Bentham
08.10.10
David Cameron has intervened to prevent “slash and burn” cuts to the Armed Forces after holding a private meeting with defence chiefs.
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Plans to use vertical take-off aircraft on the carriers have been abandoned, however, and cheaper jets that take off and land by using a catapult and wire will be used instead. The second carrier might also be converted from its conventional use to operate as a “floating platform” for commandos."
The Navy is also expected to be allowed to buy new frigates for 2020, and the Royal Marines will be retained instead of being merged with the Army's Paratroop Regiment, as some reports had suggested...
...as will the aircraft carrier programme,
though with a different variant of the Lockheed Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter."
David Cameron ‘rules out slash and burn defence cuts’ | News