Defence Review - Headlines
 

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister will outline a timetable under which Britain’s one fully operational aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, is immediately retired. The Navy’s other carrier, HMS Illustrious, will continue to function as a helicopter platform stripped of jets before retiring in 2014.

The first of the new carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth, will enter service in 2016, configured to carry helicopters, not jets. The second new carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, will arrive in 2019. At that point, HMS Queen Elizabeth will be put into “extended readiness”, effectively mothballed indefinitely.

• The replacement for the Trident nuclear deterrent will be delayed by a year until after the general election scheduled for 2015. He will insist he remains committed to renewing Trident but will say the delay is needed to save £750 million.

• The Army will lose 7,000 soldiers, more than 100 tanks and 200 armoured vehicles. One armoured brigade will be lost and the end of Britain’s 65-year presence in Germany will be signalled.

• The RAF will keep most of its Tornado fighter-bombers but lose at least 5,000 personnel. Two RAF bases will close and be occupied by soldiers returning from Germany.

• The Navy’s fleet of warships will drop from 24 to 19 and it will lose 4,000 personnel. Harrier jump-jets will be scrapped next year but no F35 Joint Strike Fighters will be available to replace them until 2020.

• Special Forces will receive a significant increase in their budget, allowing them to buy sophisticated communications technology and weapons. Recruitment is also likely to rise.



Navy aircraft carrier will be sold after three years - and never carry jets - Telegraph

Should we end up in another war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands let's hope that the French are on our side then rather than helping get the Super Etendards ready to attack our fleet.

If only we had them and a forward operating base set up in a country next to Iran that could be used...............:ok:

Why should they? :confused: They didn't last time round, despite what some of the press would like us to believe. John Nott described the French as our most important allies in his memoirs (he later qualified this to say that he meant of the the Europeans, but not far behind the US). It may be that one French arms firm 'forgot' about the team of technicians that was there, but the French Secret Service found out, and the directors of the arms company suddenly remembered about the team when President Mitterand personally 'phoned them and politely pointed out that people doing this sort of thing would go to prison (because they were breaking sanctions).

The problem Europeans were the Italians and the Spanish.

Anyway, this story is in the Telegraph, so even if they've got it from the most impeccable sources imagineable, there's probably at least one completely avoidable and spectacular error in there (up alongside the misreporting of Timmo Anderson's lecture last week).

Slight drift thread, however, I recently attended a briefing by a very senior, very erudite, FR-A officer, who outlined in some detail the assistance France gave to the UK during teh Falklands War, including very specific information on the Exocet missiles. This was in the context of France being a key European player, both in coalitions and (now) within NATO.France and the UK have a very similar strategic position, and putting aside cracks about our 'eternal enemy' (the French make the same joke, too), France should be our strategic partner of choice as we see the growing isolationism in the US - and the mid-Terms are demonstrating this.

Rather more thread drift but I can't help get annoyed when I read about all these cuts in equipment and personnel only to then read in the same article how we are going to double our aid relief to countries like Somali, Pakistan and the Yemen. This doesn't seem right to me!!!!!

Couldn't agree more GT - shouldn't we get our own house in order before trying to sort everyone else's?
I see the plan is to close Lossie and Kinloss at the expense of Leuchars - strange decision. One squadron of Typhoons and broken infrastructure vs 4 (OK, 2 after the cuts) squadrons of GR4s and a station that has had millions spent over the last few years. Discuss?

The golf is better at Leuchars.........:ok:

so harrier to go after expensive refit and tornado needing another expensive refit not exactly economically sensible!

on the SF front if you cut the pool of talent available to recruit into our SF group won't the standard fall?

I have to agree about the Foreign Aid budget. Surely charity begins at home? Unless it is all to do with 'international standing" or maybe the fact that we can claim foreign aid ourselves if things don't get better?

That depends how you measure the standard. Pass rate on UKSF selection has become much higher over the past decade or so. Some argue that it has become "easier", but others argue that recruits are better prepared, and equipment is much better. Certainly, the training is now more relevant & better funded than ever before.

I think yet again the key point has been overlooked.. The real underlying issue for me is the appalling way in which MoD procurement is implemented. This will make uncomfortable reading for many, but until Military procurement is carried out by professionals with vast commercial business to business experience, then the Forces will never be properly staffed and equipped. Put simply, the MoD have people in senior decision making positions be they serving officers or Civil servants, who simply have no clue in how to conduct an efficient and effective procurement lifecycle.. Jobs for the boys are costing us dearly. The Military think they are unique and that "Civvies would never understand our needs".. Wrong Popeye!

The Military are quick to criticize contracts like Future Lynx, or FSTA by saying they are over-priced and do not represent good value, and that the contractors are making millions in profits.. Well hello guys, if you allegedly knew all this, why the hell did you sign up to it? The truth is, you did not have the ability to spot the pitfalls, nor did you have the ability to negotiate a good position for yourselves. Defence contractors are not charities, if the Military are dumb enough to sign up to their terms, they will certainly take the money and laugh all the way to the bank.. but who are the fools??

Then again, I doubt anyone would be interested in buying retired GR4s, but the GR7/9s could be an attractive proposition for anyone building an LPH class carrier for the first time and/or already operating Shars or Matadors....

Alot of the procurment cock ups though do originate from services in poor project definition and specific made by officers making assumptions and not writing them into the specifications.
The procurment professional journal my partner gets is littered with MoD cockups mainly traced back to poor definition/specification.
But I do wonder how many professionally qualified procurement officers there are in the defence procurement system. Compared to imperial civil servants with ox/bridge degrees in classics etc!

Perhaps we'll be able to reap the benefits of India's indigenous, $Bn+/annum, space program?

ROFLMAO at representitive of Air League on BBC news channel!

"we should compare ourselves to Germany and Japan not the united states they don't have a nuclear weapon or aircraft carrier between them."

Chooses to forget reason why! they also don't have a seat on the UN security council their armed forces till recently couldn't operate outside the homeland.
if he wants us to compare ourselves to medium sized powers not USA , Russia or China then why not France?

Because if one could get an NVQ in Defence Procurement and Spotting Evil Industry Lies from the University of East Sh1tforbrains, people so qualified would no doubt be perfect in every way.

At least the Oxbridge Classics graduates could probably spell simple words & phrases...

My thoughts go out to all you men and women in the services who once again are being sold down the river and expected to do highly skilled and brave work with inferior or substandard equipment. Thats the thanks you get for serving your country.

Here's a thought....
 

As a member of the EU, does the UK get tax relief on 'Foreign Aid' :cool: