Todays News from Sky:
Cuts to the armed forces may leave them unable to carry out their duties after 2015, a Government committee has warned. The Defence Select Committee said without firm commitments to improved funding, Britain's politicians risk "failing" the country's military. The report has rejected the Prime Minister's assurance that the UK retains a "full spectrum" defence capability.
October's Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) outlined plans to reduce the Army by 7,000 and the Royal Navy and RAF by 5,000 each as part of a cost-cutting exercise. The review also saw the scrapping of some equipment, including the Nimrod MRA4 reconnaissance planes and Harrier jump jets and the early withdrawal of HMS Ark Royal . The committee warns that the National Security Strategy unveiled last autumn was in danger of becoming no more than a "wish list" unless the necessary money was committed to deliver the future armed forces envisaged for 2020 and beyond.
In July Defence Secretary Liam Fox announced that spending on equipment will increase by 1% above inflation each year after 2015 to pave the way for the so-called Future Force 2020. And he has told Sky News that extra funding will always be available for the military. The Defence Committee said it was "not convinced that, given the current financial climate and the drawdown of capabilities arising from the SDSR, UK armed forces will be able do what is asked of them after 2015".
Committee chairman James Arbuthnot said: "Decisions for post-2015 funding will have to be made in the very near future to ensure progress towards Future Force 2020. "If the ambition of a real-term funding increase is not realised, we will have failed our Armed Forces." The report said the SDSR failed to show how decisions like the withdrawal of the Ark Royal and the Harriers will allow the armed forces to undertake the tasks handed to them. It also raised concerns about Britain's ability to be able to continue fighting in Libya and Afghanistan.
Perhaps the anchor has been deployed or at least a brake chute to enable some consolidation of facts to be considered before continuing the massacre. I suspect that the PVR Express (if indeed is factual rather then gamesmanship hot air) may have too much momentum already to prevent a Manning crisis downstream. The suggested crisis may be looming large over the horizon already. Unfortunately these pages do not provide info on ground force PVR rates from any services. Does anybody who frequents E-Goat, Arsse or a Navy equivelent(?) know what the shop-floor speak is on those forums?