Category Archives: Defence

Britain, Defence, Government, Politics, United States

Defence: MPs say a spending boost of 50% is needed

MILITARY EXPENDITURE

DEFENCE spending must increase by 50 per cent to protect the special relationship with the U.S., according to a report by MPs.

Military expenditure, currently around 2 per cent of national income, must also rise for the UK to maintain its influence in NATO, they said.

The MPs reiterated calls for spending to go up to 3 per cent of GDP – which would be equivalent to an extra £2billion a year.

Without this, UK forces would struggle to maintain their ability to work alongside the US military, diminishing their usefulness as allies, the Commons defence select committee said.

The report added some in the US believe Britain’s defence capabilities have “slipped” and that concerns have been raised about the UK’s ability to operate independently.

The report reveals US defence secretary James Mattis had been referring to Britain when he said recently one of America’s allies had cut capacity “to the point where it could no longer speak with strength”.

Conservative MP Julian Lewis, the committee chairman, warned anything less than an investment of 3 per cent of GDP “endangers us and our allies”.

It comes as Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson is locked in a battle with Theresa May over defence spending.

Dozens of Tory MPs could vote to block the Budget unless the Prime Minister increases military spending. It follows reports that Mr Williamson had told military chiefs he could bring down Mrs May if she refuses to back him in his fight to get an extra £2billion a year from the Treasury.

The report, published ahead of next month’s NATO summit in Brussels, also warned the UK military risks becoming “irrelevant” because of the time it would take to deploy forces. Currently, it would take 20 days to deploy a mechanised brigade and 90 for a division.

It suggested Britain should take the lead in defending the North Atlantic, bolstering its anti-submarine warfare capability to defend against a ten-fold increase in Russian submarine activity in the area.

The report said: “If the UK wishes to maintain its leadership position within NATO and continue such fruitful defence relations with the US, then it will have to invest more in its armed forces. Diminished capacity reduces the UK’s usefulness to the US and our influence within NATO. The Government must not allow this to happen.”

Mr Lewis said: “An increased commitment, in the face of new and intensified threats, means further investment is essential. Where percentage of GDP for defence is concerned, our mantra must be: ‘We need 3 to keep us free’.

“Anything less is simply rhetoric which endangers us and our allies.”

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Britain, Defence, Government

The Royal Navy’s £6bn fleet that hardly ever went to sea

DEFENCE

BRITAIN’S six Type 45 destroyers, described as the backbone of the Royal Navy, spent 80 per cent of last year in dock.

The ships, costing £1billion each, need a multi-million-pound refit after repeatedly breaking down in the Persian Gulf. But the work is not due to start until 2020.

Two of the cutting-edge warships, HMS Dauntless and HMS Defender, did not go to sea at all during 2017 – which had been hailed by officials and ministers as “the year of the Navy”.

All six warships, which entered service from 2008, were made with an engine system which cuts out in warm seas, leaving sailors stranded for hours in total darkness. This led to fears that these key vessels – designed to shield the rest of the fleet from air or missile attacks – had become “sitting ducks”. HMS Dragon spent 309 days in Portsmouth last year, followed by HMS Daring with 232 days and HMS Diamond with 203.

HMS Duncan spent the most time at sea, but was still in dock for 197 days.

From January to March this year, HMS Daring, HMS Dauntless and HMS Defender have not left port.

Shockingly, engine-makers Rolls-Royce claim the Ministry of Defence did not tell them the 8,000-ton vessels would spend long periods in warm waters, so they were not designed to operate in the heat.

Insiders say a shortage of manpower, leave for sailors and routine maintenance had also been factors that kept the ships docked at Portsmouth.

Lord West, former head of the Navy, said: “It is a disgrace that work on these ships has not been done as a matter of urgency. We have so few frigates and destroyers that we should have moved heaven and earth to get the work done.

“If there was a national emergency we can’t rely on them.”

Whitehall sources, who blame the delays on cuts in maintenance contracts, say Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has since ordered deployments and four of the ships are currently at sea. However, last December Britain had no major warships on operations anywhere in the world for the first time in living memory. The absence of any of the Navy’s 19 frigates and destroyers overseas was described as a “strategic embarrassment for the country.”

Defence ministers and service chiefs are pushing for more spending after years of cuts and a budget review is now underway. The problem first became public knowledge in 2016 when it emerged that two Rolls-Royce turbines on each ship slow down in warm waters and the engine fails to generate enough power.

The system does not recognise this and “trips out” the ship’s generators, resulting in total electricity failure.

The problem does not occur in the North Sea because the engine can generate more power in colder temperatures. The MoD has set aside £160million to correct the problem by installing extra diesel generators to enhance the power and propulsion systems.

This could involve cutting a giant hole in the side of each ship but work on the first one is not due to start until 2020, followed by sea trials a year later.

A spokesperson for the MoD said: “The Royal Navy has a truly global presence with 25 ships and submarines currently at sea.

“Since 2016, our Type 45 destroyers have proved indispensable on global missions to protect commercial shipping in the Gulf, support coalition attacks on Daesh, prevent the smuggling of weapons into Libya, and lead the NATO maritime task force in the Black Sea and Mediterranean.”

See also UK commits to defence spending of 2 per cent of GDP for next five years…

. MPs Demand £20bn Boost for Defence

THE Armed Forces need more cash to meet the resurgent threat from states like Russia, an MP’s report has warned.

The Commons defence committee called on the Government to start the process of moving the level of defence spending from 2 per cent to 3 per cent of total GDP.

That would mean additional funding of around £20billion a year, bringing investment in defence to levels similar to those seen between the end of the Cold War and the mid-90s.

The report said failure to finance the military on a sustainable basis makes it “very difficult” to implement a long-term strategy for defence needs. Financial stability is the “only solution” at a time when the UK faces a renewed threat from Russia, as well as increasing challenges from terrorism and cyber-warfare, MPs said.

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Afghanistan, Britain, Defence, Government, Military

The betrayal of Afghan interpreters

DEFENCE

British soldiers were aided by Afghan interpreters who were used to help provide intelligence on the activities of the Taliban. But despite the lives of many interpreters’ being at risk from continued reprisal attacks, the British Government has refused to help relocate many to Britain under the intimidation scheme. The defence select committee in Britain has concluded an inquiry into the treatment of Afghan interpreters saying they were dismally failed.

AN inquiry by the defence select committee says ministers have “dismally failed” to protect loyal Afghan interpreters who served alongside British troops from the Taliban. It concludes by stating that “dangerously exposed” interpreters should be given a new life in the UK.

MPs on the committee said the Ministry of Defence’s “intimidation scheme”, under which translators must prove a threat to their life before they are allowed into Britain, had failed to bring a single one to safety in this country.

The explosive report states that claims by the MoD that no interpreters have faced threats warranting their relocation to the UK are “totally implausible”.

It draws on evidence of the threats facing interpreters, and the report says: “We have a duty of care to those who risked everything to help our armed forces in Afghanistan.”

Dr Julian Lewis, chairman of the cross-party committee, said: “How we treat our former interpreters and local employees… will send a message to the people we would want to employ in future military campaigns about whether we can be trusted to protect them.”

The findings will pile further pressure on Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and Home Secretary Sajid Javid to overhaul current policy on Afghan interpreters. The MoD has said it would now review the report.

There are two schemes under which interpreters who served alongside British troops can be given sanctuary in the UK. The “relocation scheme” only allows interpreters into the UK if they were serving on an arbitrary date in December 2012 and served at least 12 months in Helmand province.

But the report says this scheme had been “generous” in allowing interpreters who lost their jobs when UK forces were withdrawn from Afghanistan into Britain.

This generosity had, however, contrasted starkly with the “total failure to offer similar sanctuary to interpreters” under the intimidation scheme, it says.

This failure comes despite Afghan interpreters and their families having been shot at, threatened and even executed after being branded “spies and infidels” by the Taliban.

The report says ministers must allow interpreters who face “serious and verifiable threats” to come to Britain.

Case-in-point:

AN Afghan translator credited with helping save the lives of dozens of British soldiers trapped for nearly two months by the Taliban has said that their fighters have been trying to hunt him down.

Fardin, 37, said that twice in the past ten days a suspected Taliban fighter had been in his home neighbourhood of the Afghan capital Kabul asking neighbours and shopkeepers where he lives with his family.

“I am terrified,” he said. “My wife is crying constantly. They know what I look like, they know what I did for the British and they want revenge.”

Fardin, who still works with British forces in Kabul, was one of three Afghan interpreters who were the “eyes and ears” of 88 soldiers surrounded by 500 Taliban at the outpost of Musa Qala in Helmand for 56 days.

Despite the fact he has worked with the British for more than a decade, he was told he does not qualify for sanctuary in the UK because he did not spend a full year on the front line.

 

THE excoriating report by the all-party defence select committee, which finds not a single Afghan interpreter has been given sanctuary in the UK – under a scheme to rescue those at risk from Taliban reprisals – is devastating in its conclusions. The inquiry found that ministers have “dismally failed” to protect loyal Afghan interpreters who served with our troops.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson must act with all speed to honour our debt to these brave men – before more pay for their service to Britain with their lives.

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