I heard a rumour last night that the Defence Secretary was to be Paddy Ashdown and was surprised but quite pleased as I don’t really rate Liam Fox, the new Defence Secretary.
Sadly the rumour didn’t turn out to be true. I believe it would have been a good move and with his experience in conflicts he could have brought a realism to Defence that has been missing for some time.
It seems that I am not the only one of that opinion as Subrosa has been explaining here. As she says
Out of all the appointments mentioned today this one concerns me most. Liam Fox, as shadow defence secretary, never performed better than average. His media interviews were composed of soundbites and no substance and often he seemed far more concerned that the public knew he had been to visit our troops in various parts of the world rather than address their concerns.
Sadly she is correct he has managed to make Bob Ainsworth almost appear talented. Let us hope that his performance in the real role, where we need someone well above average, is better than his role as shadow.
Hopefully he will be backed up a good team who can help him through what will be a tough time in the next few years. This is a department that cannot fail. There are some very good names out there on all sides of the fence who can lend their experience at all facets of defence.
Seems like all Defence News and not just news from Afghanistan is being ignored by the MSM during the Election period. This story is definitely of the bad news variety in a number of ways.
First the Warthog is late, not late because of delays in procurement, no late because it failed British Aceeptance Tests.
Second because of this failure it has had 2 tons of extra Armour added to beef up protection.
Third because this extra weight decreased reliability, and increased wear and tear.
Fourth because the extra weight will have reduced mobility and will stretch the ability to move the vehicle by helicopter.
Fifth because the first unit slated to get the Warthog, a Royal Dragoon Guards regiment, is deploying to Afghanistan without it.
It, of course ,remains to be seen if the Warthog can actually do what it is supposed to do in Battle as explained by Richard North here especially now it has grown in weight. As he said back in September
Arguably, therefore, the British policy of securing protection and tactical mobility by equipping with high-performance off-road vehicles is self-defeating. It shifts emphasis away from developing and then securing the road network, leaving the Afghans – military and civilians – disadvantaged and at higher risk than the troops who, according to the McChrystal doctrine, are there to protect them.
This is very much an issue with McChrystal, who argues that the focus on force protection can work against the counterinsurgency ethos. The problem is that high casualty rates also work against implementing a successful counterinsurgency if they generate political pressure for withdrawal.
Gordon Brown has mentioned the platform more than once in response to criticism from political opponents and others over Britain’s record in equipping its forces in Afghanistan.
Last September, Brown announced that Warthog deliveries would be accelerated. The details of that move were never released, but industry executives said they believed the government was looking at compressing the program to get final deliveries earlier than planned rather than speed introduction of the first vehicles.
Just another example of Brown failing on his promises to our Armed Forces.
An RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft moves into position behind a KC-135 Stratotanker for aerial refueling.
Back in the 60′s the De Havilland Comet was replaced around the world by the Boeing 707 as the premier passenger Jet. Now in 2010 we see that in the UK this is again happening with the derivative RC-135V/W Rivet Joint Signals Intelligence Aircraft replacing the Nimrod R1 signals aircraft. However the replacements won’t be available until 2014 and our last R1 will be gone by 2011. In the meantime we will be going cap-in-hand to the Americans to borrow this “vital capability”. It seems that the usual amount of forward-thinking has been done by Labour and the MOD on this “Vital Capability”.
According to Defence News
That could be a controversial move; for at least three years, the British will forgo control of what the defense secretary said in a statement March 22 to Parliament was a
“vital capability.“
An MoD spokesman said that between “2011 and 2014, the U.K. will enter into a partnering arrangement with the U.S. that will safeguard U.K. personnel core competencies.”
The spokesman declined to provide more details.
The U.K. will have “full sovereignty of the aircraft when received in 2014,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said there were no details available on program costs; initial contracts will be placed in June.
The cost of buying the Rivet Joint planes, installing ground terminal gear, training crews and buying other equipment was estimated in late 2008 at slightly more than $1 billion, according to the announcement of Britain’s formal interest by the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
A letter of offer and acceptance on what is known here as “Project Helix” was signed by the British on March 19.
Britain will be the only non-U.S. operator of the highly sensitive Rivet Joint, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said.
He said Rivet Joint was the most cost-effective and the only viable option that meets British military requirements, beating out proposals to develop a new mission system for the R1 airframe or a modified Nimrod MRA4 airframe.
In 2007, L-3 was awarded an assessment phase deal for Helix, which was then envisaged as a mission systems update of the R1.
The deal to buy the USAF aircraft was one of a number of announcements made by the U.K. government March 22 ahead of the Labour administration calling a general election in the next few days. The most notable was the U.K. arm of General Dynamics winning a major order to develop a family of armored fighting vehicles for the British Army.
Further announcements are expected later this week, including an assessment phase deal with BAE Systems to build a new generation of frigates as part of the Future Surface Combatant program.
The decision to replace the R1s comes just days before the aircraft’s sister machine, the Nimrod MR2, is withdrawn from RAF service as a maritime reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering aircraft. The move will leave Britain short of maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine capability until the MRA4 becomes operational in 2012.
The first of nine MRA4s planned for delivery was last week handed over to the RAF for support training activities. The aircraft’s entry into service is being delayed until 2012 to help save money at the cash-strapped MoD.
Gordon Brown’s statement that the Defence Budget has gone up every year is Fiction. That is the fact. Cathy Newman also describes Brown’s use of “near cash” terms as “Fiscally Illiterate“.
So during PMQ’s Gordon Brown has uttered yet more Brownies and yet again he will get away with them unless both Cameron and Clegg hammer him again and again at PMQ’s about this.
It is time to get the gloves off and call a Liar a Liar, none of the pissing about, some direct straightforward words that any Tommy, Dick and Harry will understand, no more disingenuous, no more being economical with the actualité, no more revelation of a totally fissured and dysfunctional government, no more Brownies, call them what they are in reality LIES.
Only then will the public begin to understand what this man has done to Britain, He has turned this one geat nation into Broken Britain, and he wants, by any means, to have Five more years to destroy it totally. He tried to tell us this morning that he wouldn’t let us down, sadly this is yet another of his reworked phrases, he told us this back in 2007 at his first Labour Conference as Prime Minister, and even more sadly he has not just let us down, he has totally bankrupted this Country, to try and say he won’t let us down down is beyond belief.
This is no time for a Broken and Discredited Prime Minister and his Broken and Discredited Government.
Let’s just look at a it more of what Cathy Newman tell us about Gordon’s Lies:
The analysis
In real terms – i.e. taking account of inflation – Gordon Brown is wrong. Figures given to us by the Ministry of Defence (see table below) show the defence budget fell year-on-year in real terms on four occasions since 1997 when Labour came to power – in 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2007.
Worse, the defence budget also fell below 1997 levels (again in real terms) on four occasions – 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002.
“Near cash”
The MoD says Gordon Brown wasn’t talking about real terms growth, but was instead referring to “near cash” rises in the defence budget. “Near cash” is the simplest form of the military budget, the most basic cash figure – without inflation or depreciation taken into account.
According to the Institute For Fiscal Studies, inflation has to be factored in to make spending comparisons meaningful. So Brown was at the very least playing fast and loose with the figures by ignoring inflation.
Wrong again?
However, Gordon Brown also stated today in the Commons that the “expenditure of the Ministry of Defence has been rising in real terms under this government”. Taking him absolutely literally, “this government” was elected in 2005. But here he is also wrong. As we’ve seen just now, spending fell in real terms in 2007.
Still falling
Looking at the NATO figures, the defence budget fell from £34.4bn in 2007 to £32.8bn in 2008.
“If you look at Nato’s figures Gordon Brown’s statement is incorrect,” says Stoker. “Either way, both sets of data indicate that the budget has not risen every year.”
Cathy Newman’s verdict
Defence spending has gone up in “near cash” terms, but it’s fiscally illiterate to use this measure, and the former chancellor knows it. The government is on firmer ground when it points out that the departmental budget is 10 per cent higher this year than in 1997, but FactCheck has established that Gordon Brown’s central claim that the defence budget has gone up every year is fiction.
This is Cathy Newman checking the facts, what she doesn’t mention that these are using figures compared against standard inflation, Sadly Defence Industry Inflation is much higher (5-10%) than normal inflation.
In an excoriating report by MPs, the Defence Minister Quentin Davies was singled out for being “disingenuous” in giving evidence to the Commons Defence Committee. The Defence Equipment report also condemned the MoD for attempting to balance its annual budget by delaying projects and commissioning work it cannot afford.
In one example, the decision to make short term savings by delaying the introduction of the two aircraft carriers to 2015 has cost £674 million out of the £5.2 billion project.
The cost increases were “unsustainable in the context of a tightening budget situation and illustrate precisely the reasons why the equipment programme has become out of balance with the budget,” the report said.
Liam Fox the shadow defence secretary, said it was now clear that the MoD was
“operating in Wonderland”.
“It is nonsensical to deny the very existence of a deficit, refuse to share crucial information with the Defence Committee and consistently order equipment with no means of paying for it.”
Quentin Davies the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, was singled out for giving misleading answers to the committee when he denied a huge funding gap for purchases existed claiming, without producing any evidence, that it was only £6 billion when it was in fact £21 billion and probably now stands at £36 billion.
So yet another department in the corrupt Government is fudging the figures and lying about it’s commitments. You don’t need to worry though, 15 billion isn’t really a lot of money, when we are 180 billion in deficit just for this year alone.
Why any sane Political party would want to win the next General Election is getting beyond me. When they have finally worked out that Gordon Brown has utterly wrecked our Economy, it will them who will be blamed rather than Gordon Brown.
Vote for Change. It really is the only way of saving this once great Country
