Dave to announce details of £1.1bn defence spending
 

BBC News - PM to announce details of £1.1bn defence spending

Well not really - just they can keep the 2012/13 year underspend

Sounds like they'll use some of it to keep Sentinel in business for a couple more years


To me it reeks of

"for Gods sake I'm at Farnborough next week and I have to say SOMETHING...."

We'll see...

Hopefully some more interesting news... If it was just underspend, then perhaps they would just have rolled out Hammond.

Does the MoD/RN really need a full-time 'ice maiden' (HMS Protector) - there's an ideal candidate for contracting-out I'd have thought? From 'her' website "FACT - HMS Protector is the Royal Navy’s ‘Swiss ArmyKnife’ – red, versatile, and always there when you need her" really? :rolleyes:

Apparently yes. I asked a matelot about this when NERC announced its new Ice Breaker for BAS a few months ago. BAS already has a couple of it's own breakers on charter, so it would otherwise be no problem for them to take over Protector. But it seems the RN have a few important responsibilities down there they can't hand over to the civvies. Don't ask me to list them though, I wasn't that curious.

800 mil for an ISTAR package huh. That could lease a very nice MMA/MPA capability over the next decade.

You get the feeling that a fleet of P-8s is becoming almost inevitable. Suppose we're obliged to avoid mentioning Nimrod now ;)

If you actually listen to what the PM says, you will see he partially breaks down what the £800M on ISTAR is for. He specifically mentions running on Shadow and Sentinel, but there is no mention of a new asset (such as an MMA/MPA).

agree with Biggus. All looks allocated to me. I still think MMA/'son-of-Nimrod' is just too politically hot for any news before the next election. Would hope it may feature in manifestos for that event (but suspect not). C'est la vie.

he's probably waiting until he gets a new Defence Secretary in place - rumours of reshuffle today or tomorrow

The reference to Sentinel and Shadow was that they could now run until at least 2018.

In the past few weeks Dunne and Hammond, when asked about MPA (the gap and any forthcoming order) have spoken about platforms that offer flexibility rather than ones dedicated to a particular mission. For me, This makes today's statement (which talked about increasing the range and flexibility of ISTAR) all the more interesting.

Whatever way you read it, Camoron has just announced that he is re arranging the deck chairs. No new money, just changing the spending priority.

Smudge:ok:

No chance of an MMA announcement pre-SDSR - this sort of thing is too political and I sense it will be used as a 'good news' story to hide a multitude of 'bad news' stories that will emerge in the SDSR.

One could argue that before they chopped the MPA fleet would could actually defend it a bit further out than the white cliffs, and against unseen enemies below the surface.

Perhaps if the maritime brigade obtained sponsorship for a new aeroplane? Manchester United have just got £750m to allow a company to write on their shirts so a small commercial badge on the MPA crews' flying suits should fund it. Anybody got suggestions for a suitable company? (Ginster's Pies).

As I was saying...

UK to extend Sentinel surveillance program with Raytheon support