UK DEFENCE CUTS REALLY STARTING TO HURT THE ARMY

BRITISH ARMY RESERVE NEW ARMOURED COMBAT VEHICLE UTILITY

This vehicle was personally designed by the British Government with Prime minister Cameron having a great input on its design and cost. When Cameron heard some negative comments from Army generals he was heard saying "They bloody well need to get used to defence cuts, how on earth am I supposed to get an Indian astronaut onto Mars if I have to keep wasting money on the British army?"

Falklands chief: Navy cuts will leave UK 'ripe for the taking'

Cuts to the Navy will leave Britain defenceless and ‘ripe for the taking’, the Falklands War veteran Sir Sandy Woodward has warned. In a rare intervention, Sir Sandy, who led the Naval task force that helped retake the Falkland Islands in 1982, said Britain would be left unable to defend its interests around the world unless cuts to the fleet are reversed. And he warned that Britain could even lose its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council if it is seen to be unable to defend overseas territories like the Falklands.The warning came in a letter to the Commons defence committee, which is investigating Britain’s future defence needs. It is jointly signed by a number of other senior figures from the Falklands era, including Brigadier Julian Thompson, who led 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines during the conflict, and Admiral Sir Michael Layard, who commanded the requisitioned troop ship Atlantic Conveyor which was sunk by Exocet missiles.Calling for a change of course, they said defence cuts had already reduced Britain’s standing in the world, with potentially dangerous consequences for Britain’s trade and energy interests. They added: ‘It is evident that the UK is rapidly becoming a different nation by default and one less likely to be respected by friends and foes alike. ‘Our strategic reach has been severely curtailed because we will no longer be able to support the United States militarily in the key way which the UK has done for decades. ‘This might put in doubt our position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council if we become unable even to protect our own dependent territories.’ Sir Sandy singled out the ‘debacle’ surrounding the replacement of Britain’s aircraft carriers, which will leave the fleet with no operational capacity for a decade. Following a U-turn last year, ministers announced the new carriers Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales will be equipped with 12 jump jet F-35B Joint Strike Fighters, at a cost of £500 million each. But they will not be ready to fly until 2020, a decade after Harrier jump jets went out of service.Read More HERE

I have always said that these new Carriers magnificent as they look are white Elephants, lets hope they listen to Sir Sandy Woodward?

DAVID CAMERON DOES WHAT THE NAZIS COULDN'T DO IN WW2 TO THE DESERT RATS.

As the 'Desert Rats' lose their tanks, the Army needs a new role - and our national security fits the bill
THE HEADQUARTERS of the 7th Armoured Brigade - the 'Desert Rats' - is to leave the dingy garrison town of Bergen–Belsen, 50 miles south of Hamburg, and move back to the UK as part of the army's accelerated exit from Germany, announced by the Ministry of Defence on Monday.In the process, it will lose its tanks and become the 7th Infantry Brigade, whose heaviest equipment is likely to be the Jackal wheeled reconnaissance vehicle. And it will be based in the unappetising garrison town of Chilwell outside Nottingham.You can hear the retired colonels and generals spluttering into their mid-morning pink gins. One veteran of the Desert Rats' exploits against Rommel wants to wring David Cameron's neck. But the criticism is hardly fair.Cutting heavy tank formations is logical enough. They haven't been used in a serious two-sided conflict since Korea (few regard Iraqi conscripts or even Saddam Hussein's much-hyped Republican Guards as a serious opponent).

More tanks would be kept on if we had designed one that might have been useful in the last decade of conflict. Regimental rivalries prevented the development of a troop-carrying tank like the Israeli Merkava ('chariot' in Hebrew) where the heaviness of the tank turret and tracks provides additional protection to the infantrymen in the back – up to six of them. The Israelis even have a version fitted for medical evacuation, the 'tankbulance'. Hezbollah struggle against the Merkava – their only attack technique is to hide in a tunnel or ditch and attach a mine as the tank rolls over.Read More HERE

Dambusters saved from axe to fly new fighter

The “Dambusters” squadron has been saved from defence cuts because it will be the first to operate the RAF’s new fighter jets.The 617 Squadron was made famous for its heroics during the Second World War when bombers attacked dams in Germany’s Ruhr Valley using “bouncing bombs”. It was feared it would be confined to history when the Ministry of Defence replaces its Tornado aircraft with the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). But senior defence sources said the squadron has “privileged status” because of its history and its pilots will be the first in the RAF to operate the JSF. The new fighters are due to be introduced in three years while existing Tornados are expected to be gradually phased out by 2019.Five RAF squadrons currently fly around 90 Tornados but it is believed only one or two will convert to the JSF, leaving the others at risk of being axed.Read more HERE

617 squadron deserves its “privileged status” and long may it remain in the defence of our nation.

No more cuts, head of British army warns

Who would be head of the British army at this time? It is not an enviable position. The army is being cut by about 20% to 82,000 by the end of the decade. Ministers say they are confident that the capability gap can be filled by almost doubling the size of the Reserves to 30,000 and "integrating" them into the regular army. Their confidence is not widely shared. Meanwhile, the army is losing some of its best young officers. They have been to Afghanistan and do not believe there is much future staying in the army. Faced with the prospect of even further cuts, General Sir Peter Wall, chief of the general staff — the head of the British army — had the air of one trying hard to suppress deep frustration, even anger, as he gave evidence for more them two hours on Wednesday to the Commons defence committee. His message to Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, seemed clear — that's enough, no more cuts. More HERE

It seems the more Wars we get involved in the more troops get axed?

 LINK

UK to send RAF for No Fly Zone In Libya

The MOD managed to find this one aircraft in a museum.

HMS GEORGE OSBORNE

George Osborne has argued that one of the new aircraft carriers not having any aircraft is not a waste of money and he has proposed that it will be turned into a giant floating golf course for the Conservative party. Nick Clegg has agreed with the plan as long as he can have a go at driving it.

Planes axed for aircraft carriers

Britain's aircraft carriers will be left without planes for a period because of cuts to the military budget in next week's spending review, Defence Secretary Liam Fox has confirmed. Two former heads of the Royal Navy have warned that a decision to withdraw Harrier jets before the arrival of new Joint Strike Fighter F35s in 2018 would leave Britain unable to fight another Falklands War







It’s a good job Argentina is skint as well

Britain to becomes the newest State of the Union.

Anyone who has been reading my Blog of the last few years will know that I have been worried about the affects on our military of a Socialist Government, it seems their plans for a wholesale destruction of military were almost complete under Brown. I don’t think I was being overly dramatic and the mess we are left with just proves this, read about it HERE

THE FUSILIER

The Politician sat in Parliament
Counting his expenses
He needed a new duck pond
The best the most expensive
The soldier lay down in Helmand
Low on bullets rations and water
He hoped he would see another Dawn
And his smiling baby daughter
The Tory ordered Dom Perignon
It was lunch time after all
He lit up a Cohiba Esplendido cigar
Puffing smoke into the hall
The soldier charged the machine gun nest
As his wounded comrade fell
A Fusilier he would save his friend
No soldier will be left in this Hell
The politician had to make some cuts
To axe a Battalion or two
He took a swig of Dom Perignon
“The Fusiliers will do.”

© Tony McNally

British Forces are reduced to a fourth world militia thanks to Gordon Brown.

Out in Afghanistan, the British Army is fighting one of its toughest campaigns of modern times. But in Whitehall today, it faces an even more brutal threat: to its survival as a credible fighting force, amid the most draconian government spending cuts ever imposed. Defence Secretary Liam Fox is almost in despair at the enormity of the task he faces, reconciling responsibility for maintaining forces capable of protecting Britain with the intractable demands of next month's Comprehensive Spending Review by the treasury.

Well I reckon the Girl Guides could make a better job of running the UK than these people. But at least you know that overseas aid is ring fenced  so we can hope to see and Indian astronaut on the moon soon!

The Gurkhas face the axe

Its seems like winning their victory on pension rights and being able to settle in the UK may in the end cost the Gurkhas  dearly. I’m obviously biased when it comes to these Bravest of the Brave loyal servants of Britain for the last 200 years and fought alongside them in the 1982 Falklands War, where the very mention of these warriors from Nepal brought terror to the Argentine  invaders. The psychological value alone is worth its weight on gold on the battlefield. In my opinion these soldiers are the most cost effective in the whole of the British Army, they would willingly do the job of two of their British brothers without complaint and a smile on their faces. In pure economic reasons the axing of the Gurkhas would be extremely bad business for Britain and our Armed Forces. I just wonder if the recent news of a  Gurkha solder beheading a Taliban fighter may have had some influence on any Government decision? I know one thing if the UK saved all the money they have handed out to Asylum seekers and legal aid we would have enough money for several Brigades Of Gurkhas and a fleet of new aircraft carriers, carriers that are looking less likely to be built in light of the latest news of to share new carriers with France Its easy to forget but Gordon Brown and the Labour party are responsible for the mess we have been left with and I’m sure which ever big rock he has crawled under in Scotland he will have a big grin on his face at the damage he has inflicted upon our Armed Forces and the whole Country. The jury is well and truly out on Cameron.

Britain forced to borrow U.S. jets to fly from our NEW aircraft carrier

Britain will be forced to borrow U.S. warplanes to fly from the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers because of defence cuts, the Daily Mail can reveal

Lord Nelson will be turning in his grave,call me a smart asre but I always assumed if you built an aircraft carrier you really need aircraft to put on them.Imagine if we had this arrangement in 1982 when we had to retake the Falkland Islands? It would never have been a British victory. If Obama was the President in those days it would have been Argentina he would be sharing his navy with. Why don’t we go the whole hog and scrap the pound and use the dollar. The British military can just be a support wing for the US Marines, infact the whole British Isles can be one big aircraft carrier. I suppose the up side would be our injured servicemen would be treated in genuine military state of the art hospitals. Where are my Ray Bans!