Britain set to slash its armed forces

[TarJak]

http://www.smh.com.au/world/britain-...n::damn::damn:

Great idea, save money by putting all that hard earned investment in training onto the dole. Which genius thought this crock up?

[Lord_magerius]

This would be the Tories and their zombie like single mindedness and asshattery in trying to reduce our nations deficit. God bless em, what do I need my money for anyways...

[papa_smurf]

Bah! They hand out the contracts for the new aricraft carriers, start to build the first one, only to discover the whole project could be scrapped!
Yes carriers are expensive, and some say not necessary, but with our current ones getting on, and not to mention the amount of skilled labour it will create (which we need), I say build them - we need a bit of national pride right now.

[Oberon]

In an effort to slash costs, HMS Queen Elizabeth will be powered by the rapid rotational power of Nelsons corpse.

[bradclark1]

Are they going to enlarge their Reserves or is it a permanent chop?

[krashkart]

The important question is... who will keep us Americans in line now?

Oh wait...

[Oberon]

I believe the actual spending review comes out sometime within the next month.

At a guess I'd say we'll see the navy take the brunt of it because they're the ones with the most expensive projects on the go right now. The Darings will probably get chopped from six to four, the Astute will go from seven to five, we'll probably lose a Vanguard, either to scrap or conversion to an SSGN and we might lose a QE carrier, probably the Prince of Wales.
The RAF will get a reduction in the Attack squadrons no doubt, but there's not a lot of fat there left to trim so it'll probably be merging of squadrons, or alternately a merger with the Army...that's been talked about I know.
The Army will fare better than most because a) they've already suffered a large share of cuts, and b) they're the most in use force at this time in Afghanistan, so the government can't actually cut back to any major extent on the Army without endangering the Afghanistan mission.

Of course, I could be wrong...in many areas I hope I am wrong, but the writing seems pretty clear on the wall. All part of the governments grand scheme to reduce unemployment and encourage people to get back to work by cutting jobs or forcing companies to cut jobs.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by krashkart

The important question is... who will keep us Americans in line now?

China? They seem to be the only ones besides Iran and N. Korea not cutting their military budgets these days...

Originally Posted by Oberon

The Darings will probably get chopped from six to four...

Care to buy some Littoral Combat Ships to bring up the slack? From what I read here I don't think we are going to want them...

[Oberon]

I guess we could scrap the carriers and convert the LCS's into carriers...
Now if you could give us the same deal on the F-35s that you gave Israel then we might also be able to get something to fly off them...

[XabbaRus]

I've been following this and I think the navy is going to be OK.

Personally I think they could cut a lot of the armoured formations, at least stick the tanks in a shed somewhere.

The Navy will do anything to keep the carriers.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Oberon

I guess we could scrap the carriers and convert the LCS's into carriers...
Now if you could give us the same deal on the F-35s that you gave Israel then we might also be able to get something to fly off them...

Well if you give us back the tin cans we gave you it might be arranged.

50 old flush deck four stackers might be the only way we get to a 300 ship navy anytime soon.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Oberon

I believe the actual spending review comes out sometime within the next month.

At a guess I'd say we'll see the navy take the brunt of it because they're the ones with the most expensive projects on the go right now. The Darings will probably get chopped from six to four, the Astute will go from seven to five, we'll probably lose a Vanguard, either to scrap or conversion to an SSGN and we might lose a QE carrier, probably the Prince of Wales.
The RAF will get a reduction in the Attack squadrons no doubt, but there's not a lot of fat there left to trim so it'll probably be merging of squadrons, or alternately a merger with the Army...that's been talked about I know.
The Army will fare better than most because a) they've already suffered a large share of cuts, and b) they're the most in use force at this time in Afghanistan, so the government can't actually cut back to any major extent on the Army without endangering the Afghanistan mission.

Of course, I could be wrong...in many areas I hope I am wrong, but the writing seems pretty clear on the wall. All part of the governments grand scheme to reduce unemployment and encourage people to get back to work by cutting jobs or forcing companies to cut jobs.

I could have written that almost to the letter myself....it is uncanny in a way because this is precisely my thinking as well

The two biggest oxygen thieves curently residing in the UK

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

Well if you give us back the tin cans we gave you it might be arranged.

50 old flush deck four stackers might be the only way we get to a 300 ship navy anytime soon.

Hmmm...I think they're probably still patrolling off the Falklands...

Jim, I hope Xabba is right, we could probably afford to mothball a few Challengers...I mean, we're an island nation after all, short of the Scottish and Welsh getting a bit antsy we need the RAF and Navy for direct home defence...and let's face it, in times like these one has to look at home first and outside of Afghanistan and the Falklands (and perhaps Gibraltar ) we have no overseas territories in direct threat...and even so, once upon a time the RN was enough to keep them in line.
Of course, I think the importance of the RN and RAF wained when we took on the Cold war role in Germany, after all what we needed then was tanks and men to help push back the Soviets, the US had the aircraft and the navy, so we pitched in with a bigger army.
Just my thought anyway, and now that Germany is no longer in danger of being overrun by the Soviets our armed forces still reflect a Cold War status...but that being said, they're coming around after nine years of desert insurgent warfare and we've learnt a lot of lessons along the way...most of them the hard way.

Of course, the other point of view is that in this modern Europe, do we need home defence? Well, the Russians seem to think so otherwise they wouldn't keep playing with it, but the likelihood of a war with Russia is low, as is a war with any of the EU nations. Primarily, our main danger is from homegrown and external based terrorist cells, and you can fight them with a Challenger II MBT, not in Hounslow...you'd never get it through the congestion charge...but I digress. Therefore, what is needed is better police and intelligence services, however, that's on a different budget to the MoD and will no doubt be receiving its own fair share of cuts (Going back to the Ford Anglia police cars? ) but then if we do change our force composition to combat such a force then we'll find ourselves royally up the creek if a conventionally armed nation does come knocking.

Either which way, something is going to give before long, there's not a great deal there to cut, not where they're putting the knife, and what is going to be cut in both the military and in public affairs, is going to hurt not the MPs, not the Lords or the Civil Servants, or even the Bankers...it's going to hurt the other end of the ladder, those who have barely enough anyway, those who are legitimately on benefits who find themselves facing the Stasi at the DSS, those who are told that they need to get back to work or lose money when there are no jobs in the area.

But again, I digress...but it's a bit like being at the top of the drop on a rollercoaster and looking down at the steep drop to come.

[Tarrasque]

Originally Posted by Oberon

But again, I digress...but it's a bit like being at the top of the drop on a rollercoaster and looking down at the steep drop to come.

Have to disagree with you there - a rollercoaster is controlled and designed by people who know what they're doing and also is safe.

The UK at the moment isn't

[bookworm_020]

The way your going, New Zealand will be able to invade you! At least then we might stand a chance of winning the Rugby!