Trident and Related Matters

It is a very good thing that George Osborne has told the MOD that if it wants to upgrade Trident it will have to pay for it. This will concentrate minds on the fact that realism must be the basis of the Defence Review.

I have given a lot of thought to this over the last few months and stimulated this with some research. I now have a clear idea of where we should be headed. Britain must concentrate its armed forces for its own defence. This includes its vital interests but does not include pretending our true boundaries are in the mountains of some far off continent. We are not a  military superpower and we do not need a global projection capability.

The Army needs to be re-organised to provide home defence and support of other agencies in times of national emergency whether caused by enemy threat, terrorists, disasters, weather or disease. It needs to have a rescue capabilty in hostage or other situations involving British citizens overseas, but it does not need to prepare to take part in invasions or fight foreign wars. This whole Blair generated adventure with overt use of armed force overseas has been a disaster, the magnitude of which an unforgiving history will show.

The Navy should have the role of defending our approaches and home waters as well as keeping our vital trade routes open. Its capital ships should be the type 45 Daring class destroyers, among the world’s most advanced warships, and the new mega capable Astute class  submarines. The latter can form the platform for our better focused nuclear deterrent, but the type 45s can also have nuclear tipped cruise missiles on board if needed. Trident should be phased out and a way must be found for cancellation of the unaffordable giant aircraft carriers, already specified sub standard with steam turbines because we cannot afford nuclear power plants. Maybe they could become humanitarian aid and rescue platforms paid for by the U.N., or a NATO or a joint Euro project. We need lots of small, cheap, fast anti-submarine and anti-missile frigates which can ring our shores and probe the Atlantic approaches, blowing up anything under the sea or in the air which threatens our island homeland. Not lumbering bumble bees, but fast and agile wasps.

In WWII we essentially had two world class aircraft which led the considerable fleet of others not as good. These were the Spitfire and the Lancaster. Now the RAF need just the one, apart from support and transport workhorses. This should be a flexible fighter, missile armed for ground or air, which we can afford in large enough numbers to guarantee the integrity of our airspace from whatever kind of threat can come from the sky. We may need to add anti-missile batteries on the ground capable of dealing with wild card rockets fired by rogue states, rather than MIRV type mega weapons.

Finally, this is the most dramatic bit, we need to shut down the Ministry of Defence. It has been a spendthrift shambles from the beginning. We did not fight either of the world wars with this bureaucratic leviathan, which cannot even add up the cost of its programmes or keep track of its money. We should go back to focused Ministries (not sprawling departments). A small Air Ministry, Army Ministry (the old title War Office is very non pc) and a revived Admiralty would again serve us very much better and at much less cost.

Anybody who tells you that bigger is better, more efficient, more effective or cheaper has either had their eyes closed as all these super departments have devloped over the years, or they have an axe to grind or they are fools or all of those things in combination. Smaller, more focussed, leaner, keener ministries would greatly improve the value and efficiency of government generally and defence is a good place to start. Not only will we save money but we will have both a credible deterrent and a viable, secure defence. Our streets will be safer and the heroic citizens of Wooten Bassett, who have stood proxy for the nation’s gratitude and grief week after week, month after month, year after year, will be able to get on with their everyday lives.