Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
The defense budget cuts are very deep:
• The replacement for the Trident nuclear deterrent will be delayed by a year until after the general election scheduled for 2015. [Cameron] 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.
Is there a precedent for this under Thatcher? Yes indeed. Not a happy one, however.
In 1981, facing the severe budgetary constraints imposed by Thatcher’s insistence upon reducing public sector spending, Defense Minister John Nott proposed--with Thatcher’s approval--to scrap an aircraft carrier and two assault ships. He also proposed to reduce by a third the number of British frigates and destroyers. His judgement was that it was highly unlikely Britain would face a massive conventional naval conflict in the coming decades. Noting this with interest, Argentina more or less promptly invaded the Falklands.
The British navy was not prepared. It was a very, very close-run thing.
This may be a relevant lesson, it may not be. It's hard to say. No one should imagine that cuts like these go unnoticed by opportunists, however. They don't.
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Aug '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
It pains me to say it, but the British military - as good as it is - may as well be broomsticks, considering the malignant anti-Western and pro-U.N. sentiment there. Unless directly attacked, the majority of the British people lack the will to fight or even take a stand on anything.
The fact that they're allowing Sharia law enclaves to flourish all over the country speaks volumes, and all of it isn't good. Like cancer, it starts small.
Jun '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
Like I asked on Bill's piece, is England mimicking Europe in allowing the USA to pay for her defense?
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
Britain, not England.
Jul '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
The removal of troops from Germany is a sensible economy. Trident should probably be scrapped as well; if a nuclear deterrent is still considered necessary for the esteem of the realm, than cruise missiles on subs would serve. The army cuts are troubling; the naval cuts are disastrous. Given the US Navy's reductions in force, American strategic planners were beginning to assume the inclusion in future conflicts of two full-size British carriers. Now it looks like the Royal Navy will build the two carriers, but probably sell one of them. This is not good.
May '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
Though grossly uninformed in these matters, I had the same general impression as RBT. Could this be the opening gambit in a protracted negotiation? Living in California we have become well accustomed to the tactic of asking for more than you need in the budget process?
May '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
The UK has two serious security threats, neither of which is related to their armed forces. First is a spending-national debt crisis that is threatening the entire well being of the nation. The second is their internal jihadist threat.
Whilst it is dissapointing to see a once mighty muscular power fade away, the cuts are exactly the right thing to do. The UK is out of remedial time.
The absurd items left: 2 uneeded aircraft carriers, £1 billion green investment fund, £1 billion carbon catchment project, £200 million windmill and other green projects investment, the job killing emmisions tax coming - all combine to raise serious doubts about the sanity/logic of their remaining priorities but serious expenditure reductions are absolutely required.
Jun '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
I am woefully unqualified to dissect this too deeply, but it seems clear that these drawdowns are the consequence of Britain's vast domestic entitlement system and astronomical national debt. If memory serves, they have even recently discussed a partial dismantling their socialized health service, because it has become unaffordable and unsustainable. The most basic economic rule is paramount: there is only so much money a country can spend in any given year. Without delving into the manner of how our nation handles discretionary and non-discretionary spending as a budgetary matter, suffice it to say that as a percentage of GDP, the more you spend on domestic entitlements and debt service, the less that is available to spend on other needs, including defense. We all know this.
The continued military decline of our most reliable ally is disturbing. But the lesson is plain to see. The United States has the strongest, most able military in the world - today. But it would be naïve to think that we are not susceptible to the same pressures that may result in the retreat of Britain from the world stage.
May '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
"My name isn't really Robert Barraud Taylor; he was a Federalist from Norfolk, Virginia, a man of great principle and courage. A display about him at the Virginia Historical Society notes that "Although opposed to the War of 1812, as brigadier general of militia Taylor organized the successful defense of Norfolk against the British. Widely respected, he was chosen to represent Norfolk in the state constitutional convention of 1829–30 but resigned because he could not, in good conscience, follow the wishes of his Tidewater constituents on the issue of fair representation for Virginia's western counties." Taylor believed in equal representation; his constituents wanted to skew representation in favor of the eastern counties, and rather than compromise or vote against their wished, he resigned."
Just want to give you a shout out RBT -- love the name, the icon, the bio. I wish I had such a cogent case for an Internet avatar. Sadly I'm just me.
May '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
If Britain continues on its current cultural trajectory, they might not remain allies for much longer, in which case I'll be glad they weakened themselves.
Two things disturb me about military cuts every time I read about them:
1) Like cuts in other facets of government, military cuts never seem to begin with bureaucracy and frills.
2) They always assume the war tomorrow will be like the war today.
Jul '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
Might be time for folks in the Falklands to brush up on their Spanish.
Kirchner and her amigo Hugo Chavez would very much enjoy delivering a poke in the snoot to los Imperialistas.
Jun '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
Its just too sad when your national anthem becomes deeply ironic:
When Britain first, at heaven's command,
Arose from out the azure main,
Arose, arose, arose from out the a-azure main,
This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:
Rule Britania!
Britannia rule the waves.
Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
The nations, not so blest as thee,
Must in their turn, to tyrants fall,
Must in ,must in, must in their turn, to tyrants fall,
While thou shalt flourish, shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.
Rule Britannia!
Britannia rule the waves.
Brittons never, never, never shall be slaves.
Jun '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
Opps! Before Claire busts me - God Save the Queen is the national anthem ... and God will have to, because the British navy won't be able.
Jul '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
River: Unless directly attacked, the majority of the British people lack the will to fight or even take a stand on anything.
These days, a good portion of the British people don't even consider themselves "British." Asked for their national identity, Scots overwhelmingly say Scottish, not British, and the same is true of the Welsh. And then there is what is called the "Asian" contingent of the population. UK has serious problems from within and one can almost sympathize with her reluctance to project her power without. But as Claire says, opportunists will take note.
Jul '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
This whole draw down of the British Navy makes me sad. Talk about a malaise.
Sep '10
Re: Britain's Defense Budget Cuts
As a young officer in the US Navy, my ship happened to be in Portsmouth at the outbreak of the Falklands War. The officers of my ship were the guests for dinner of the officers of the HMS Hermes (Flagship of the British Force and already slated for decommissioning). The Brits were in full war mode preparation at the time; yet were wonderful hosts. Kidneys and Bacon on the menu as I recall - enough to make anyone long for war - washed down with Beaujolais. We got the keen sense that they knew they were about to participate in the last campaign of a great maritime nation.
Edited on Oct 21, 2010 at 10:46am