Royal Navy Cuts Too Deep?

Researchers in the UK are saying that the Royal Navy is now 'too small' to protect Britain.

His warning was backed by retired naval officer Commander John Muxworthy of the UK National Defence Association who said that during the Falklands War in 1982 Britain had access to about 60 frigates and destroyers.

He said: "Now we have got 19. You have to use the rule of three with ships - one fighting, one training and one recovering"
"Just divide 19 by three to see how many we have got available for operations. People will fall about laughing if you claim we have enough.
"The Royal Navy has been emaciated. It is no longer a fleet. It is a flotilla."
"Britain is disarming when many countries around the world are rearming. The consequence is that we will lose lives, lose operational capabilities and we will be a shadow of our former selves.
"Yet as an island nation 90 per cent of everything that comes and goes from here goes by sea. "

Ouch.

By: Brant

More info on the UK restructuring

Just how much will the Brits cut uniforms and swap in contractors?

Whole regiments could be axed or merged, and infantry battalions and armoured units disappear as the army faces its biggest shakeup since the end of the cold war, Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, will say on Thursday.

The army will be cut from 102,000 to 82,000 by the year 2020 and will have to rely more on reserves and private contractors, he is expected to say.

But it will continue to provide the "teeth" in future military operations as Britain's European allies provide the logistics backup, Hammond will say at a London conference on land warfare run by the Royal United Services Institute thinktank.

Defence officials emphasised that more functions of the army would be "outsourced" – potentially to include more training and logistics as well as backup security work.

Restructuring the British army will "rethink the way we deliver every aspect of military effect in order to maximise capability at the front line". In future, he will say, the army must be "thinking innovatively about how combat service support is provided. Using more systematically the skills available in the reserve and from our contractors. Working closely with partners to operate logistics more rationally through [Nato] alliance structures. Looking to others to provide the tail, where Britain is concentrating on providing the teeth".

Hammond will stress the importance of the regimental tradition – "maintaining the ethos, traditions and connections that are part of what makes the British army so effective – particularly, a regimental system and regionally focused recruiting", he will say. But he is expected to emphasise the point that a regular army of 82,000 will have a very different structure to one of 102,000. "Some units inevitably will be lost or will merge," the defence secretary will warn.

Hammond will say there is "no question of abandoning the regimental system... that does not mean that we can avoid difficult decisions as the army gets smaller." History and heritage deliver "tangible military benefits in the modern British army".

By: Brant

A Sneak Peek At British Army Restructuring?

While much of the article concerns integration of contractors and reserves into service support, the notes at the end about maneuver forces are interesting.

Most of the significant changes at the unit level would occur between 2014 and 2016, he said.

Reaction forces would provide an assault brigade equipped with attack helicopters. There will be three armored infantry brigades equipped with medium and heavy vehicles, including the Challenger tank.

In addition, there will be seven infantry brigades of various sizes made up of paired regular and reserve forces. These will be particularly suited to U.K. or enduring operations such as the Falkland Islands and Cyprus.

Force groups involving artillery, engineering, intelligence and logistics would provide maneuver support and logistics, Wall said.

By: Brant

A Royal Mess Over the Falklands

You gotta love it when the Argies - who invaded sovereign British territory - call someone else a "conquistador".

Argentina said it doesn't seek another war over the Falkland Islands, and accused Britain of militarizing their sovereignty dispute by announcing Tuesday that it is sending an advanced warship to the islands along with Prince William "in the uniform of a conquistador."
The assignment of Prince William, a Royal Air Force helicopter pilot, for a six-week military mission in the Falklands in February and March has been a sore point for Argentina. It has sought to reclaim the South Atlantic archipelago that it calls the Malvinas Islands ever since Britain seized the islands some 180 years ago.
Both countries have engaged in a war of words in recent weeks ahead of the 30th anniversary of Argentina's failed attempt to take the islands back. Its invasion ended with more than 600 Argentine soldiers killed and 200 British dead in an international humiliation for Argentina's military junta.

You know, I always wondered why the Argies Spanish instead of some local native dialect. Oh yeah, that's right - because their country was, y'know, organized by Conquistadors. Those bastards.

By: Brant

UK MoD Wanting to Play Better Games

The dominant discussion here is going to be how "the video game generation" is growing up and is bored by the simulators the miltiary is putting in front of them.
There's a deeper story here that's not being told correctly, though. All those mid- and late-career guys that are now in the programs, training development, and acquisitions business are the guys approaching their late-30s and early-40s, and who were playing video games as tweens in the early 80s. They grew up with video games, even if video games weren't present when today's officers were born. Those mid-career guys are the ones who understand that (video)game-based training is a value-add and are now in a position to actually execute on those ideas.
Are they catering to a younger crowd? No doubt. But is that why they're doing it? Not necessarily. The senior officers developing long-term training plans are integrating more games because that's what they grew up on, not just because that's what they're target audience grew up on.
It's just that the cost of civilian technological development has dropped so low that the commercial developers are running laps around the laborious pace of government-sponsored development, and so the 'cool' games aren't military-grade flight sims anymore, but rather commercially-available FPS games. And today's acquisitions guys understand that as long as the physics under the hood work, you can rewrite the scenarios all you want to focus on legitimate military training objectives instead of just racking up points for your gamertag.

The British military has had to radically improve some of its simulated training war games to keep the attention of recruits who have grown up in the Playstation and Xbox generation, a Ministry of Defence scientist has admitted.

Troops are so used to playing high-quality commercial games set in combat zones that they tend to lose concentration unless the MoD simulations look equally realistic. This has become an important issue at the MoD, which is increasingly turning to digital simulations to help prepare soldiers for duty.

Thousands of troops sent to Afghanistan have been trained on Virtual Battlespace2, a spin-off from a commercial game that can, for instance, test their responses when they come under mortar attack from insurgents.

Though the military stresses that these games only supplement traditional methods, it reflects the way technology is transforming military training. With budgets being squeezed across the MoD, simulations are also a comparatively cheap way of giving troops a "virtual'' taste of what they might come up against in a warzone.

Another idea involves issuing RAF trainee pilots with tablet computers such as iPads, to save the cost – and weight – of printing bulky flight manuals that need to be regularly updated and cost £1,000 a student.

The scientists and engineers at MoD's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in Portsdown, Hampshire, are at the heart of the developments.

Andrew Poulter, the technical team leader, said the military was trying to keep up with the advances that have helped turned computer gaming into a hugely lucrative global industry. Bestsellers such as Battlefield 3, Killzone 3 and the Call of Duty series have taken this genre of video games, known as "first-person shooters'', to a new level.

"Back in the 1980s and 1990s, defence was far out in front in terms of quality of simulation," said Poulter. "Military-built simulators were state of the art. But now, for £50, you can buy a commercial game that will be far more realistic than the sorts of tools we were using. The truth is, the total spending on games development across the industry will be greater than spending on defence."

Poulter is in charge of Project Kite (knowledge information test environment), which has been tasked with putting the MoD back in the forefront of simulation training, in part by buying-in technology from the big gaming companies.

The key to successful virtual training is for the simulation to be realistic enough for people to be properly "immersed'' in what they are doing.

By: Brant

UK Defence Minister Resigns

THis is a few days old, but we still needed to cover it.

LIAM Fox is gone. The resignation of the British defence secretary became inevitable once newspapers started unearthing financial trails that appeared to show a group of wealthy, self-confessed ideologues bankrolling what amounted to a one-man parallel political operation, running alongside Mr Fox's official team at the Ministry of Defence.

That operation took the form of Adam Werrity, a young man with ill-defined defence and foreign policy expertise and business interests, who despite lacking a security clearance or any official role in government, enjoyed remarkable access to Mr Fox. Their contacts included 22 visits by Mr Werrity to Mr Fox at the Ministry of Defence and another 18 meetings overseas. These encounters included a joint meeting in Dubai with a potential supplier to the British military (at which ministry officials were not present) and a meeting with the president of Sri Lanka (at a time that other branches of the British government, from the Foreign Office to Downing Street, were deeply concerned about the human rights record of the Sri Lankan government, and were reluctant to receive the president officially).

The story has been running for a week now, but changed nature in the past 48 hours. Initially, the hounds of the press were running after what seemed a reliably British story: a scandal involving a whiff of influence-peddling, spiced with a dose of sniggering innuendo. Mr Fox and the much younger Mr Werrity were former flatmates and "close friends", the press noted. They dressed alike (meaning they were photographed both wearing suits and ties). Mr Fox had been dogged by rumours about his sexuality, the press added, and when he finally married, well, Mr Werrity was his best man.

By: Brant

Europe Continually Awaiting US to Ride to Their Rescue

The Economist ran this column a whole back, but it's still worth discussing that Europe has been more than happy to let the US lead with their military and their wallet, and that in the long-term, that's unsustainable.

...if the European taxpayers do not want to pay to preserve their own security, why should Americans shoulder the burden? Only five of the 28 NATO allies meet NATO’s recommendation that countries should spend at least 2% of GDP on defence: America, Britain, France, Greece and Albania. Today America’s key security interests are in the Middle East and in Asia. Europe will be the obvious place for America to cut expensive overseas commitments.

Europe has more soldiers than America, but can deploy far fewer of them on overseas operations. This is partly the result of history: in the cold war European armies were built to hold the line in Europe, while awaiting reinforcement by American forces which, by definition, had to be designed for expeditionary warfare. Another is that “Europe” is not a sovereign state, but a collection of small- and medium-sized countries. Its considerable defence spending is hoplessly fragmented among a multitude of armies, air forces and navies.

Specialisation, pooling and sharing equipment is the obvious way forward. Defence experts across Europe have known this for a long time and, here and there, countries have embarked on some important experiments. A recent paper by the Centre for European Reform, and think-tank in London, makes some sensible recommendations (PDF). But what is rational in terms of defence accounting too often falls foul of political and operational reality. Many smaller countries have little interest in international commitments. And the bigger states that still retain some kind of global vision, like Britain and France, do not want to be dependent on smaller states for their military capability.

By: Brant

UK Rolls Army Back to the Boer War

At least in size... The coming defence cuts will result in a Queen's Army smaller than the US Marine Corps.

The reorganisation will see the Army shrink to its smallest size since the Boer War, while Britain’s reserve forces will benefit from a £1.5 billion investment programme.
Members of the Territorial Army (TA), the Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Air Force Volunteers Reserve will receive better pay and conditions, but more will be expected to take part in dangerous military operations when needed.
It is understood that by 2020 the Army will be reduced from its present strength of 101,000 regulars, to 84,000. The number of territorials will be maintained at 36,000.

By: Widow 6-7

Discord in UK Government & Military Over Capabilities

There's a very public row growing between Prime Minister Cameron and the First Sea Lord over comments about how stretched the Royal Navy really is.

Britain's chief naval officer has been left humiliated after David Cameron said he had summoned him to Downing Street to challenge his claims that the fleet could not continue the Libya campaign indefinitely without affecting other naval operations.

The prime minister told MPs he had met Sir Mark Stanhope, and that the first sea lord now agreed that the navy would be able to "sustain this mission as long as we need to".

The meeting was the culmination of a turbulent 24 hours for Stanhope, who infuriated No 10 by talking about the strains on the navy, which is heavily involved in the Afghanistan mission as well as in Libya.

In a briefing on Monday, Stanhope said ministers would have to "make challenging decisions" once Nato's 90-day extension to the Libya campaign ended.

"Beyond that we might have to request the government to make some challenging decisions about priorities," he said. "There are different ways of doing this. It's not simply about giving up standing commitments. We will have to rebalance."

He said a ship might have to be diverted from "around home waters".

His remarks provoked uproar at No 10, which regarded them as a PR gift to the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi, as well as misrepresenting the state of the service. But serving staff privately rallied to him, and former officers provided public support, saying Stanhope was only stating the obvious, especially now the navy has axed ships and thousands of personnel as part of the government's strategic defence and security review (SDSR).

Anyone got any games they can think of that would model this level of over-taxation of forces based on economic investments? Third Reich, maybe?

By: Brant

The Brits'll Get An Aircraft Carrier Afloat... Eventually

Well, I guess the Brits will get an aircraft carrier back on the seas by 2020.

Defence secretary Liam Fox was on the Clyde to cut the first steel for HMS Prince of Wales, the second of the Royal Navy's two Queen Elizabeth class carriers.

Dr Fox started the computer-guided laser to cut the first piece of hull for the ship at a ceremony at the BAE Systems shipyard in Govan.

After the symbolic ceremony, Dr Fox told the workers the government was committed to delivering this next generation of powerful British aircraft carriers, which will form the cornerstone of the navy's Future Force 2020.

"This major construction project is creating and sustaining thousands of jobs in shipyards around the country," he added.

After attending the event, Dunfermline and West Fife MP Thomas Docherty told The Courier, "It is another milestone on the road to completion of the two aircraft carriers.

"Obviously I am delighted to begin to see the Queen Elizabeth carriers taking shape in Govan and more crucially at Rosyth."

He said not only would the carriers guarantee employment for Rosyth until 2020 at least, but they were of great benefit to the UK.

In the meantime, the pride of the French navy is doing the heavy lifting of Libya.

By: Brant

Compare and Contrast... US and UK

ADM Mullen is concerned about the growing gap between the US military and the civilian population.

The US military's top officer warned Saturday about a worrisome disconnect between civilians and troops, saying soldiers are becoming isolated from the rest of American society.
Speaking to graduating cadets at the US military academy at West Point, Admiral Mike Mullen said that Americans appreciate the military but do not fully understand soldiers' lives or the sacrifices they have made in wartime.
"Our work is appreciated, of that I am certain. There isn?t a town or a city I visit where people do not convey to me their great pride in what we do," Mullen said, according to a text of the speech.
"But I fear they do not know us. I fear they do not comprehend the full weight of the burden we carry or the price we pay when we return from battle," he said.
"This is important, because a people uninformed about what they are asking the military to endure is a people inevitably unable to fully grasp the scope of the responsibilities our Constitution levies upon them," he said.

And in the UK, there's a "Military Covenant" between the MoD and the servicemembers.

The term “military covenant” was introduced in Britain in 2000 and is used by political leaders and the media in discussing the informal pact that exists between those who volunteered to serve in the British military and the nation. Its purpose is to ensure that those who served will be treated with respect and receive the benefits they’ve earned.

As defined by the Ministry of Defense:

“Soldiers are bound by service. The nature of service is inherently unequal: soldiers may have to give more than they receive. Ultimately, they may be called upon to make personal sacrifices — including death — in the service of the nation.

“In putting the needs of the Nation, the Army and others before their own, they forgo some of the rights enjoyed by those outside the Armed Forces. So, at the very least, British soldiers should always expect the Nation and their commanders to treat them fairly, to value and respect them as individuals, and to sustain and reward them and their families.”

The military covenant is not a law. It’s more like a guiding principle, an idea that exists to help steer decision making — kind of like Google’s “Don’t be evil” mandate. Making it into a law will, for the first time, give it teeth, and veterans may be able to challenge the government if their needs are not being met in conjunction with the covenant. On this, I’m skeptical that a guiding principle can be effectively legislated and enforced. I’m also disappointed that the military covenant needs teeth — shouldn’t it just exist because it is the right thing to do?

By: Brant

Brits to Send Military Advisors to Libya

The BBC is reporting that the British MoD is sending military officers to Libya to advise the rebels there.

British military officers will be sent to Libya to advise rebels fighting Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces, the UK government has said.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the group would be deployed to the opposition stronghold of Benghazi.

The BBC understands 10 officers will provide logistics and intelligence training in a UK and French operation.

Mr Hague said it was compatible with the UN resolution on Libya, which ruled out foreign military ground action.

He stressed that the officers would not be involved in any fighting and the move was needed to help protect civilians.

The UN Security Council resolution, passed in March, authorised a no-fly zone over Libya.

Mr Hague said: "The [UK] National Security Council has decided that we will now move quickly to expand the team already in Benghazi to include an additional military liaison advisory team.

"This contingent will be drawn from experienced British military officers."

By: Brant

Decorated Senior SAS Commander Resigns

The negative impact of recent defence cuts on morale has led to the resignation of yet another talented senior UK Army officer.

A highly decorated senior SAS commander, who masterminded a deadly campaign against the Taliban, has resigned from the Army amid claims that defence cuts are hitting morale.

Friends of the colonel, who cannot be named for security reasons, said he had grown increasingly despondent with service life following the cuts imposed on the military by the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR).

It is understood that two highly respected Brigadiers, one of whom also served with the Special Forces, are considering their positions.

Senior officers have warned that many more high calibre officers are expected to resign in the coming months especially if the Continuity of Education Allowance – which pays for a proportion of boarding school fees for service families – is cut.

By: Shelldrake

GrogNews (Sorta-)Morning Headlines

Yep, we're running late again today... real life and all that :)


Mark Urban over at the BBC thinks that close cooperation between France and Britain is a good thing, and has actually been going on for a while now. Some people are already dubbing it the "Entente Frugale" as the nations combine their military efforts.

The mail bombers didn't know where their toner cartridge bombs would go off, but figured it would wreck havoc either way. The Greeks aren't waiting to find out where any mail bombs might go off, as they've suspended foreign airmail service following a few mail bombs there in the past several days.

Koreas are trading fire again.

NATO is looking for Russian cooperation in Afghanistan. As long as it's not the same kind of "cooperation" we gave them in the 1980s.

Americans helping al-Shabab? Wow.

So apparently GWB's memoirs include a reference that he had a "sickening feeling" that no WMDs were ever found. Excuse me, Mr President, they were found... don't you read WikiLeaks? Or shouldn't you have been reading Danger Room lately? Or heck, didn't you listen to LTG Maples back in 2006 when the then-head of the DIA said they found over 500 chemical munitions?

By: Brant

HMS Astute Grounded

It appears that someone has "scraped the paint" in the course of HMS Astute's sea trials off the west coast of Scotland. Definitely not a good career move!

The Royal Navy's newest and largest attack submarine HMS Astute has got into difficulty off Skye, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed. An eye-witness said the sub - described as the stealthiest ever built in the UK - appeared to have grounded.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "This is not a nuclear incident.

"We are responding to the incident and can confirm that there are no injuries to personnel and the submarine remains watertight."

The spokeswoman added: "There is no indication of any environmental impact."

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said it was alerted to the incident at about 0819 BST. A spokesman said they were monitoring the situation. A Royal Navy helicopter has also been at the scene. Eye-witness Ross McKerlich said the submarine was about a mile from his home and appeared slightly tilted.

He said: "When I woke up this morning and looked out my bedroom window I could see the submarine.

"I am very surprised how far in it has come as there are good navigational buoyes there."

Mr McKerlich added: "There was a helicopter hovering over the top - it's now gone back and there are two Naval vessels from the local base, Kyle of Lochalsh, standing off to the north of her.

"Earlier in the day they did have ropes and they were trying to tow but now the tide has gone back and they're just standing off."

HMS Astute, built at by BAE Systems in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, is believed to have been undergoing sea trials as it is not expected to enter service until next year.

By: Shelldrake

UK To Cut F-35 Purchases

Although the Royal Air Force intends to base its future air power on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Eurofighter, there may be as few as 40 of the F-35s to fulfill this role.

Future prospects for the F-35 joint strike fighter program got a lot murkier Tuesday after British government officials announced plans to delay and dramatically trim their purchases of the warplane from Lockheed Martin.

The sweeping review of defense programs unveiled by Prime Minister David Cameron envisions cutting purchases of F-35s from 138 planes to as few as 40. It would also delay the first orders until later this decade and switch the type of jet the British navy will operate.

The moves by the British, who for 15 years have been the foremost ally of the Pentagon in planning and paying for development of the F-35, figure to drive up the costs of buying aircraft for the U.S. and other governments and lead to further delays by other nations expected to buy the jets.

"This is not good news, bottom line," said Mackenzie Eaglen, defense analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation. "Once there is a significant shift by any international participant, it opens the doors for others to follow."

To date, only Israel has indicated a firm commitment to purchase the F-35 -- and it will do so with funds from U.S. military aid programs. Lockheed officials say they expect an order from Australia early next year, while Canada has reaffirmed its intent to buy planes but given no timetable for doing so.

By: Shelldrake

BUB: Morning Headlines

The BBC notes that this isn't the first time the Conservatives have advocated deep cuts. And The Economist looks at the coming era of Anglo-French defence co-operation.

How are US-Afghan relations today? Reuters gives you a rundown.

Tom Brokaw wonders why the wars aren't more of a campaign issue.

A pending arms deal between the US and the Saudis is making a lot of countries uncomfortable.

Rachel Corrie never learned that if you mess with the bull(dozer), you get the horns. Now, her parents are "confronting" the driver in court, as though he's somehow responsible for their daughter's irresponsible behavior.

Is China's growing military buildup real? Yes, says a US general, but that doesn't mean there's an inevitable military clash. After all, China's too busy meddling in the Sudan, then pitching a fit when people point it out in a UN report.

By: Brant

UK Defence Cut Details Unveiled

Per the Prime Minister's office, by way of BBC News...

AIR FORCE
The Harrier jump jet and Nimrod reconnaissance planes will be scrapped.
Some squadrons of Tornado jets will be saved, but Joint Strike Fighter and a modernised Eurofighter will form the basis of the RAF fire power and there will be extra money for unmanned planes.
The air transport fleet will be upgraded with A400M and A330 aircraft, replacing the Tristar and VC-10 from 2013.
Some air force bases will close and 5,000 RAF personnel will lose their jobs over the next five years.
Extra 12 Chinook helicopters to increase flexibility.

ARMY
The Army will have to cut up to 7,000 personnel over the next five years, and lose 40% of its tanks and 35% of its heavy artillery. It will lose one deployable brigade out of six.

NAVY
The Ark Royal, launched in 1985, will be decommissioned almost immediately, rather than in 2014, as previously planned.
The construction of two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will go ahead, as it would cost more to cancel the projects than proceed with them but one of them will be mothballed rather than entering service and the other will be fitted with equipment for the Joint Strike Fighter rather than the Harrier.
The navy will lose 5,000 personnel and its surface fleet will be cut from 23 to 19. It will get a new fleet of Astute-class nuclear-powered submarines.

TRIDENT
The government says £750m ($1.2bn) will be saved over four years on the Trident nuclear deterrent missile system by cutting the number of warheads on each boat from 48 to 40 and reducing the number of missile tubes from 12 to eight. The UK's nuclear warhead stockpile will be cut from 160 to less than 120. The final "main gate" spending decision on Trident will also be delayed until 2016 - after the next general election.

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
The Ministry of Defence will lose 25,000 civilian staff over the next five years. It will also have to renegotiate contracts with industry and sell-off "unnecessary" buildings and assets.

By: Brant

Early Retirement For HMS Ark Royal

The budget cuts facing the UK military will be announced later today but the BBC is reporting that the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is destined to be an early casualty of the budgetary chopping block.

The Royal Navy's flagship, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, is to be scrapped early as part of the government's defence review. The UK's Harrier jump jets will be axed, the money saved going towards the cost of two new aircraft carriers. It means that, until at least 2019, Britain will not have the ability to launch fighter jets at sea.

David Cameron is due to unveil the first strategic defence and security review in 12 years at 1530 BST. During a visit to operations headquarters for the armed forces on Tuesday Mr Cameron said there had been some "difficult decisions" but the UK would remain "an absolutely front rank military power". One Harrier pilot, Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Kris Ward asked the PM: "I have flown 140 odd missions in Afghanistan and I am now potentially facing unemployment. How am I supposed to feel about that sir?"

Mr Cameron thanked him for "everything" he had done for his country, but said there had been long discussions about the review and the military advice was that "it was right to keep the Typhoon as the principal ground attack aircraft, working in Afghanistan at the moment, and right to retire the Harrier".

Defence Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC the fleet had to modernise and have the "correct balance for the next 30 to 40 years". He said there had been periods in the past - before the Harriers came on stream - when the UK had aircraft carriers with no planes to fly on them. Dr Fox said there would be a range of helicopters and unmanned aircraft which would still be able to fly from them.

Unveiling the defence review at about 1530 BST, Mr Cameron is expected to announce:

- The Ark Royal, launched in 1985, will be decommissioned almost immediately, rather than in 2014, as previously planned.

- The construction of two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will go ahead, as it would cost more to cancel the projects than proceed with them.

- The navy will lose 4,000 personnel and its surface fleet will be cut from 24 to 19
Some squadrons of RAF Tornado jets will be saved - although some air force bases will close.

- The Army will have to cut up to 7,000 or so personnel over the next five years, and lose 100 tanks and heavy artillery.

- The Ministry of Defence itself will face substantial cuts to its civilian staff

The BBC has learned that at least one of the new carriers will be redesigned so that it can deploy normal fighter aircraft that do not need a Harrier-style vertical lift capability. Dr Fox said that there would be "interoperability" so strike fighter aircraft from allies such as France could land on UK aircraft carriers, and vice versa.

Meanwhile, sources say £750m ($1.2bn) will be saved over four years on the Trident nuclear deterrent missile system but it is not yet clear how those savings will be made. Dr Fox insisted any changes to the timetable for its replacement would not stop the UK's ability "to maintain a credible minimum nuclear deterrent".

Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was "worried" by the scale of UK defence cuts. But a Downing Street spokesman said the prime minister had spoken to President Obama on Monday, promising the UK would "remain a first-rate military power and a robust ally of the United States".

It would "continue to work closely with the US on the full range of current security priorities", he added.

By: Shelldrake

BUB: UK Defence Updates

Despite a "black hole" in the budget to the tune of 3.3 bn - yes, with a "b" - pounds, the MoD is still paying 2.7bn for unwanted Typhoons, on top of the cost over-runs for the aircraft carriers. And yet, William Hague is convinced that the UK will remain a first-rate military power.

David Cameron is adding a former military officer to his political team. And GEN Petraeus is paying a visit to the Prime Minister and to Linda Norgrove's family, both to discuss the botched rescue of the British aid worker.

In Afghanistan, UK troops are ramping up their training of Afghan security forces. And the handover of Task Force Helmand from 4th Mechanized Brigade to 16 Air Assault Brigade was marked with a formal dinner.

By: Brant