Britannia Radio

PRESS STATEMENT THE EFFECT OF THE STRATEGIC DEFENCE AND SECURITY REVIEW ON OUR OVERSTRETCHED ARMED FORCES SDSR & THE ROYAL NAVY: HMS ARK ROYAL, the Navy’s only strike carrier was hastily withdrawn from service in Dec 2010, at least three years earlier than planned. Only HMS ILLUSTRIOUS (currently in refit) will remain until 2014 and only carry helicopters. 60+ Harrier aircraft were withdrawn from service in Jan 2011 thus leaving the Fleet Air Arm without any fast jets. Naval aviation expertise will be lost and very difficult to recreate. The fixed wing Fleet Air Arm has, for the next seven or more years, effectively ceased to exist. The first of two new large carriers will not be operational until at least 2018/19 or later – thus leaving the Royal Navy without fixed wing air cover for the next seven or eight years, and possibly much longer. All four of the Navy’s Type 22 Frigates are being withdrawn now (years earlier than planned) from service. There will thus be only ever being 19 (or fewer) Destroyers and Frigates remaining when SDSR 1998 called for an absolute minimum of 32. (At the time of the Falklands War the RN had more than 70 frigates and destroyers. The expected “Type 26” Future Service Combatant (planned to replace our aging Type 23 frigates) cannot be expected to even begin to come into service before 2020 at the very earliest. The result is that, from now on, at any one time the maximum number of Frigates or Destroyers the RN will be able to have operational at sea will be about ten! The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (the Navy’s fleet replenishment ships – fuel, stores, ammunition) will be reduced by three ships, leaving only five. It is expected that the Royal Navy will be reduced by 5,000 personnel to a total of barely 29,000, lower than it has ever been in the last 100 years. For an island dependent entirely on the sea for our very existence, we are severely weakening our first line of defence. SDSR & THE ARMY: Once the Army completes its mission in Afghanistan its manpower may well be cut by 7,000 or more. The long delayed FRES programme (replacing and modernising the Army’s combat and support vehicles) has, in effect, been dropped. The Army’s force of c.500 Challenger II tanks may be reduced to a token force of about 50. By Colonel Tim Collins OBE The effects of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) will alter the UK Army finally and irrevocably. The expeditionary armed forces are to be effectively mothballed and the equipment types needed to fight a high scale conventional war will be reduced to what is really only a training cadre with no operational capability - at least independently. Commensurate with the reduction of equipment types the overall size of the army will reduce by several thousand. But the real cut which looms is to the terms and conditions of the service men and women, in particular the officer corps. Cuts to allowances, including the continuation of education allowance, will see large numbers of middle ranking and more senior officers vote with their feet to find stability and more financially rewarding employment in the civil sector; it is this that the civil service and politicians do not understand. There has long existed, from both the civil service and politicians of the left, a culture of jealousy towards the Armed Forces, their status in society and their approval by the public. The civil service, it could be argued, fail to appreciate the sacrifice of the armed forces overseas, seeing only the internal politics of life within the Ministry of Defence, which they regard as their territory. Politicians of the left have long hated the regimental system and the Armed forces ethos which they do not understand and have consistently failed to penetrate, much less control. The watering down of the regimental system under the last administration did huge damage to the method by which this nation raises and sustains its armies and has reduced the old regional affiliations to a mere thread. That was the intent, no money was saved and the exercise was a net cost to the taxpayer. Removing the incentive of stable schooling and even the reimbursement of reasonable expenses will drive out the talented thirty-somethings who were making it work - just. These moves, intentionally or otherwise, point towards a future army that will no longer be capable of maintaining itself administratively and will therefore need to rely increasingly on civil servants. Just as the NHS is increasingly in the grip of administrators with no medical background, so will HM Armed Forces be administered by civilian staff lacking a deep understanding of our serving personnel, their tasks and their needs. ROYAL AIR FORCE: The strength of the RAF has been severely reduced, with much operational capability lost. The nine state-of-the-art Nimrod Mk 4 maritime surveillance aircraft were all scrapped without ever taking to the air, with £3.9 billion pounds being completely wasted and the country left with no long range maritime surveillance aircraft. Despite its success in Afghanistan, the new ASTOR intelligence aircraft system is to be withdrawn in 2015 – some 20 years early, and the recent order for 12 extra Chinook helicopters is in imminent danger of being cancelled. The Fast Jet force is also in disarray. The entire RAF/RN Harrier Force has been withdrawn and all the aircraft are now ‘in store’ pending possible sale (at a knock down price). All that will remain are just enough Tornado Squadrons for the Afghanistan commitment and a reduced number of the new Typhoon Eurofighter, some of which are already being offered for sale to Indonesia. The RAF will lose up to 5,000 personnel and in total drop below 33,000. Flying training has already been reduced severely, and over 170 student pilots/aircrew have been withdrawn from training because of the cuts. Loss of capabilities and expertise will take years to regenerate - if ever - all because of mismanagement and vast expenditure on other cherished vote-winners. OVERALL: It is at this point one must ask what do we have armed forces for? If we are to take the path selected by many European nations towards a ‘token military’ then we are on the right path – indeed we are already travelling fast down that path. If, however, we are to maintain a military capable of acting independently and effectively whenever needed, then we are badly off course and heading for the rocks. There is thus a crucial need to review the political direction of SDSR 2010 and revise it – and, by doing so, choose one course or the other. The personnel strength of the Armed Forces will fall from 188,000 to c.170,000 or less. Redundancies are already being announced and implemented. Even now the Government are trying to ‘save’ even more money and so more equipment and personnel cuts are to be expected. The coalition government seems to have turned its face away from ‘hard power’ in favour of a policy of placating potential enemies with ‘soft power’ – i.e. currying favour and ‘friends’ with large sums of money that, we submit, would be much better and effectively spent on Defence. We advocate” Speak softly, but carry a big stick” – not, as seems to be the current philosophy, “Shout loudly, but carry a small twig!” About the UKNDA: The UK National Defence Association (UKNDA) was formed in 2007 to… Campaign for sufficient, appropriate and fully funded Armed Forces that the Nation needs to defend effectively its people, their security and vital interests wherever they may be. The UKNDA contends that: 1. ‘Defence’ is too low in the Nation’s list of priorities and therefore the Armed Forces are under resourced (under funded) for the tasks they are set. 2. This results in inter-Service wrangles over an inadequate budget. 3. Over tasking and under resourcing leads to our Armed Forces being over-stretched and, from time to time, to suffer from equipment shortages and/or failures. These factors can, and do, result all too often in unnecessary casualties. SDSD 2010 has further weakened our Armed Forces, possibly beyond redemption. A capability, once lost, may never be recovered. 4. All of the above lead to increasing pressures on that vital element of our Armed Forces, the serving men and women (and their families) who do the work, face the threats and risk their lives to defend us. UKNDA Ltd. PO Box 819, Portsmouth, PO1 9FF Web www.uknda.org --- On Thu, 17/3/11, Andy Smith wrote: From: Andy Smith Subject: UKNDA PRESS STATEMENT ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE STRATEGIC DEFENCE AND SECURITY REVIEW To: "Undisclosed Recipients" Date: Thursday, 17 March, 2011, 21:13 PRESS STATEMENT THE EFFECT OF THE STRATEGIC DEFENCE AND SECURITY REVIEW ON OUR OVERSTRETCHED ARMED FORCES SDSR & THE ROYAL NAVY: HMS ARK ROYAL, the Navy’s only strike carrier was hastily withdrawn from service in Dec 2010, at least three years earlier than planned. Only HMS ILLUSTRIOUS (currently in refit) will remain until 2014 and only carry helicopters. 60+ Harrier aircraft were withdrawn from service in Jan 2011 thus leaving the Fleet Air Arm without any fast jets. Naval aviation expertise will be lost and very difficult to recreate. The fixed wing Fleet Air Arm has, for the next seven or more years, effectively ceased to exist. The first of two new large carriers will not be operational until at least 2018/19 or later – thus leaving the Royal Navy without fixed wing air cover for the next seven or eight years, and possibly much longer. All four of the Navy’s Type 22 Frigates are being withdrawn now (years earlier than planned) from service. There will thus be only ever being 19 (or fewer) Destroyers and Frigates remaining when SDSR 1998 called for an absolute minimum of 32. (At the time of the Falklands War the RN had more than 70 frigates and destroyers. The expected “Type 26” Future Service Combatant (planned to replace our aging Type 23 frigates) cannot be expected to even begin to come into service before 2020 at the very earliest. The result is that, from now on, at any one time the maximum number of Frigates or Destroyers the RN will be able to have operational at sea will be about ten! The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (the Navy’s fleet replenishment ships – fuel, stores, ammunition) will be reduced by three ships, leaving only five. It is expected that the Royal Navy will be reduced by 5,000 personnel to a total of barely 29,000, lower than it has ever been in the last 100 years. For an island dependent entirely on the sea for our very existence, we are severely weakening our first line of defence. SDSR & THE ARMY: Once the Army completes its mission in Afghanistan its manpower may well be cut by 7,000 or more. The long delayed FRES programme (replacing and modernising the Army’s combat and support vehicles) has, in effect, been dropped. The Army’s force of c.500 Challenger II tanks may be reduced to a token force of about 50. By Colonel Tim Collins OBE The effects of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) will alter the UK Army finally and irrevocably. The expeditionary armed forces are to be effectively mothballed and the equipment types needed to fight a high scale conventional war will be reduced to what is really only a training cadre with no operational capability - at least independently. Commensurate with the reduction of equipment types the overall size of the army will reduce by several thousand. But the real cut which looms is to the terms and conditions of the service men and women, in particular the officer corps. Cuts to allowances, including the continuation of education allowance, will see large numbers of middle ranking and more senior officers vote with their feet to find stability and more financially rewarding employment in the civil sector; it is this that the civil service and politicians do not understand. There has long existed, from both the civil service and politicians of the left, a culture of jealousy towards the Armed Forces, their status in society and their approval by the public. The civil service, it could be argued, fail to appreciate the sacrifice of the armed forces overseas, seeing only the internal politics of life within the Ministry of Defence, which they regard as their territory. Politicians of the left have long hated the regimental system and the Armed forces ethos which they do not understand and have consistently failed to penetrate, much less control. The watering down of the regimental system under the last administration did huge damage to the method by which this nation raises and sustains its armies and has reduced the old regional affiliations to a mere thread. That was the intent, no money was saved and the exercise was a net cost to the taxpayer. Removing the incentive of stable schooling and even the reimbursement of reasonable expenses will drive out the talented thirty-somethings who were making it work - just. These moves, intentionally or otherwise, point towards a future army that will no longer be capable of maintaining itself administratively and will therefore need to rely increasingly on civil servants. Just as the NHS is increasingly in the grip of administrators with no medical background, so will HM Armed Forces be administered by civilian staff lacking a deep understanding of our serving personnel, their tasks and their needs. ROYAL AIR FORCE: The strength of the RAF has been severely reduced, with much operational capability lost. The nine state-of-the-art Nimrod Mk 4 maritime surveillance aircraft were all scrapped without ever taking to the air, with £3.9 billion pounds being completely wasted and the country left with no long range maritime surveillance aircraft. Despite its success in Afghanistan, the new ASTOR intelligence aircraft system is to be withdrawn in 2015 – some 20 years early, and the recent order for 12 extra Chinook helicopters is in imminent danger of being cancelled. The Fast Jet force is also in disarray. The entire RAF/RN Harrier Force has been withdrawn and all the aircraft are now ‘in store’ pending possible sale (at a knock down price). All that will remain are just enough Tornado Squadrons for the Afghanistan commitment and a reduced number of the new Typhoon Eurofighter, some of which are already being offered for sale to Indonesia. The RAF will lose up to 5,000 personnel and in total drop below 33,000. Flying training has already been reduced severely, and over 170 student pilots/aircrew have been withdrawn from training because of the cuts. Loss of capabilities and expertise will take years to regenerate - if ever - all because of mismanagement and vast expenditure on other cherished vote-winners. OVERALL: It is at this point one must ask what do we have armed forces for? If we are to take the path selected by many European nations towards a ‘token military’ then we are on the right path – indeed we are already travelling fast down that path. If, however, we are to maintain a military capable of acting independently and effectively whenever needed, then we are badly off course and heading for the rocks. There is thus a crucial need to review the political direction of SDSR 2010 and revise it – and, by doing so, choose one course or the other. The personnel strength of the Armed Forces will fall from 188,000 to c.170,000 or less. Redundancies are already being announced and implemented. Even now the Government are trying to ‘save’ even more money and so more equipment and personnel cuts are to be expected. The coalition government seems to have turned its face away from ‘hard power’ in favour of a policy of placating potential enemies with ‘soft power’ – i.e. currying favour and ‘friends’ with large sums of money that, we submit, would be much better and effectively spent on Defence. We advocate” Speak softly, but carry a big stick” – not, as seems to be the current philosophy, “Shout loudly, but carry a small twig!” About the UKNDA: The UK National Defence Association (UKNDA) was formed in 2007 to… Campaign for sufficient, appropriate and fully funded Armed Forces that the Nation needs to defend effectively its people, their security and vital interests wherever they may be. The UKNDA contends that: 1. ‘Defence’ is too low in the Nation’s list of priorities and therefore the Armed Forces are under resourced (under funded) for the tasks they are set. 2. This results in inter-Service wrangles over an inadequate budget. 3. Over tasking and under resourcing leads to our Armed Forces being over-stretched and, from time to time, to suffer from equipment shortages and/or failures. These factors can, and do, result all too often in unnecessary casualties. SDSD 2010 has further weakened our Armed Forces, possibly beyond redemption. A capability, once lost, may never be recovered. 4. All of the above lead to increasing pressures on that vital element of our Armed Forces, the serving men and women (and their families) who do the work, face the threats and risk their lives to defend us. UKNDA Ltd. PO Box 819, Portsmouth, PO1 9FF Web www.uknda.org