Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Defence Cuts

It is impossible to organise a defence policy independent of a foreign policy. Therefore, although the Treasury holds the purse strings, the Foreign Office has the plan. Next week we can expect to hear from William Hague a difinitive explanation of what the plan is. If it involves the global projection of military power, rather than creating an impregnable defence of our homeland and its vital lines of communication and supply, it is the wrong plan and we cannot afford it.

There is also the fact the the Ministry of Defence itself  is dysfunctional and financially out of control. A good example of this is these ridiculous aircraft carriers. We cannot afford to equip them to their potential and we cannot even afford to build them properly. Such vast capital ships have to be able to roam the seas for months or years without refuelling or carrying explosive oil. There must be, and all others in the world are, nuclear powered. But no. Not these two. The have steam turbines because it is cheaper. This means that each has to refuel at sea and carry nearly 8000  tons of oil. They would be dependent on their fuel supply and very easy to sink.

They will be useless in modern war. Like the much feted HMS Hood, regarded throughout the period between the world wars as the most powerful warship in the world, it was sunk within minutes by the Bismark on its first engagement in battle. This was beacuse it had not been thought necessary to equip it with worthwhile armour on its decks.

There can be plenty of cutting at the Ministry of Defence, but first it is necessary to work out with what objective for the outcome.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 29th, 2010 at 6:48 pm and is filed under Malcolm Blair Robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.