Soliders

Pre-Election RUSI Defence Debate

DS is pleased to provide a link to the recent RUSI debate on defence ahead of the general election, chaired by Mr Mark Urban. It is a pity that political interlocutors found it so difficult to think of defence as much more  than a ‘Westminster bubble football’ to be kicked around the park with little real regard for national security or the lives of our service people. Twas ever thus! 
 
Why anyone should find it so difficult to believe that the UK can only sortie a couple of submarines or warships, a few fast jets and only minor Army units at any one time at short notice is a mystery to DS? But then we have never worked out exactly when arithmetic and logic were trumped by MOD PR spin in the minds of the general public? And now it seems some esteemed contributors to RUSI have been taken in too. Good game, hope you are playing at home.

DefenceSynergia – Ministry of Defence Funding Problems – More Money or Use it Better?

DS examines defence funding: More Money or Use it Better?

On 9th Apr 2017, Roger Bootle, a financial consultant, published an article for the Telegraph entitled “Why the Government should be spending more on defence”. His position can be summarized using two of his statements:

“It is all a matter of how much of your GDP you are prepared to spend on defence. The current figure of 2pc is too low. We spend on welfare about six times what we spend on defence. Yet during the early 1990s, defence spending ran at about 4pc of GDP. Today Russia spends about 5pc of GDP and the US 3.3pc.”

“The bigger our defence budget the stronger Prime Minister May’s hand will be in negotiating with our soon-to-be-erstwhile EU partners. Money spent on ships and planes may pay dividends in trade and investment. “ (more…)

Royal Air Force – 2017 and Beyond into its Second Century

 

Royal Air Force – 2017 and Beyond into its Second Century

This short DefenceSynergia brief looks at the Royal Air Force (RAF) today with some references to the past but looking to the future and is deliberately concise. It opens with a spot brief and concludes with a short written summary of what this means in practice including, surprisingly, references to the Royal Navy and British Army. (more…)

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