Future of British military not bright
Early-2020, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) started to work on what was called an Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. This was described as the largest review on this topic since the end of the Cold War.
The review was planned to be completed by October 2020, but delays occured. The target completion date of early-February 2021 was also not met. The paper, which is also named "Global Britain in a Competitive Age", is reported to be published on 16 March 2021. Details on how to modernize the British MoD are planned to be published on 22 March 2021.
Previously, the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that his government had the intention to increase defence spendings with GBP 24.1 billion over four years. This statement was made on 19 November 2020, and it was an increase of GBP 16.5 billion over the previously announced defence spend increase.
This would make the future look bright, but reports which have started to appear in the UK press seem to prove the exact opposite. If these reports are correct, the Royal Air Force (RAF) will undergo the following changes over the next few years:
*) Twenty-three Typhoon jets of the first production batch are still in active service with the RAF. These jets can be recognized by their MoD serial numbers which start with "ZJ". The twenty-fourth aircraft from this batch is in use by BAE Warton for trials (ZJ938). Also two older jets (ZJ699 and ZJ700) are in use by BAE Warton for trials. If the RAF Typhoon fleet will be reduced with twenty-four aircraft, it most likely are these jets which will end up being stripped for usefull parts and scrapped.
**) Technically the Merlin helicopters are operated by the Royal Navy. The current number of the active Chinook and Puma fleet is 60 respectively 21.
Also the British Army and the Royal Navy will be impacted. Word has it that the number of soldiers with the British Army will be reduced from its currenty number of just over 80,000 to only 70,000 by 2024, with a further reduction of 2,500 by 2030. To achieve this, two of the four armoured brigades will be deactivated and twenty-three battalions will be either reduced in size or completely disbanded.
For the Royal Navy no details emerged yet, but it is expected that a number of Type 23 frigates and submarines will be retired.
Next week the official details should be announced, if not delayed again. One can only hope that the information leaked to the British press is incorrect....
Photo: UK MoD