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| Britain's Defense Ministry Face Tough Choices On Weapons Cuts |
| 2008-02-01 00:44:19 (1 days ago) Posted By: Intellpuke Submit to Digg |
| Ministers and officials in Britain's Ministry of Defense (MoD) are drawing up plans for sweeping cuts and delays in most of country's big weapons projects as they face the biggest crisis in the defense budget since the end of the cold war, according to government and independent sources. Huge orders for aircraft carriers, ships, fighter jets, and hi-tech vehicles are accumulating at a time when operating costs are rocketing because of grueling military operations and large increases in the cost of fuel, they say. Defense officials say ministers will be confronted with "painful options" next month. While army chiefs have been fighting for - and belatedly getting - better armored vehicles and helicopters to protect and support their troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as more pay for their soldiers, the Royal Navy and RAF insist that past promises for multibillion pound platforms such as new carriers and more Eurofighters must be kept.The army and marines are so stretched that exercises and what defense sources call "non-essential training" are being scrapped. However, the Ministry of Defense Thursday denied a report that combat training for new recruits bound for Afghanistan is being cut by half. |
| "There are no plans to change training for regular forces," said a spokeswoman. "The option for more focused, concentrated training is being looked at for reserve forces, not regular forces ... no decisions have been taken." Military commanders admit that they did not anticipate what they would be up against in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We were slow to recognize that we need lighter, more agile forces," said a senior defense official. He contrasted the army's urgent needs for more manpower and low-tech kit with costly prestige projects agreed for the British navy and air force many years ago. The defense budget, now about £34 billion (about $68 billion), is to grow by 1.5% in real terms over the next three years. However, the cost of defense equipment and personnel is rising faster than the general level of inflation. "Even with a 1.5% increase it is insufficient," said Mark Stoker, defense economist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, referring to current demands on the defense budget. Most analysts say the shortfall amounts to hundreds of millions of pounds a year. General Sir Kevin O'Donoghue, the senior military officer responsible for defense equipment, this week gave a clear signal of what is in store. "I suspect we will have to [delay or cut some major programs]", he told the House of Commons Defense Committee. Asked when the situation had been so tight, he replied: "Back in the late 1970s, we had some pretty challenging times then." David Gould, the MoD's top official responsible for equipment, said the current review demanded by pressures on the defense budget was "not an atmosphere where it is easy to take decisions on big commitments". Along with a new Trident nuclear missile submarine fleet, which could cost more than £20 billion ($40 billion) over a minimum 25-year lifespan, the £3.9 billion ($7.8 billion) project to build two large aircraft carriers, the biggest warships to be built in Britain, is sacrosanct for political and industrial reasons, say defense officials. More likely to be cut is the navy's Type 45 destroyer program. The original plan was to build 12, a figure which was then reduced to eight. The navy will be lucky to get six, say defense officials. It is also unlikely to get more than four of the original eight Astute nuclear-powered submarines planned. The Type 45 and Astute projects are already years late and more than £2 billion ($4 billion) overspent. Also likely to be cut are the number of Eurofighters, now called Typhoons, for the RAF, while the delivery of others will be delayed. Some Tornado squadrons may be disbanded. The long-delayed Future Rapid Effects System, or FRES - a £14 billion ($28 billion) program for army battlefield vehicles - could be cut. A delay in the carrier program need not cause problems for the Scottish shipyards which plan to build them. Their yards might be already busy building auxiliary supply ships needed by the navy, say officials. If the first carrier is built on time - by 2014 - it will have to fly ageing but cheaper Harriers rather than the increasingly expensive U.S.-made Joint Strike Aircraft which the MoD is scheduled to buy, but this will simply put off an even larger bill for a future year, say analysts. Intellpuke: If Britain's defense budget numbers seem smaller than our U.S. readers are used to seeing, this is because its military is smaller. There are more active military personnel in the U.S. Marine Corps than there are military personnel in the British army, navy and air force combined. You can read this article by Guardian corresondent Richard Norton-Taylor, reporting from Manchester, England, in context here: " target="_blank">www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2250488,00.html |
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