Category Archives: Government

Britain, Defence, Government, Military

Fighter jets to land on a UK carrier again

ROYAL NAVY

HMS Queen Elizabeth has embarked on a landmark voyage to the United States to begin flight trials of new stealth fighter jets.

After the retirement of the Harrier aircraft, it is the first time in eight years that our jets will take off and land on a UK aircraft carrier. At 65,000 tons and costing £3billion, HMS Queen Elizabeth is Britain’s biggest warship, which has been hailed as a “true statement of our national power” and has left Portsmouth to begin trials.

Two American supersonic F-35B test jets will perform around 500 landings and take-offs during the carriers 11 weeks at sea.

Trials of the fighter aircraft have been much anticipated owing to their “game changing” ultra-advanced technology, which includes their ability to fly at 1,200 miles per hour and go virtually undetected by enemies.

A Royal Navy commander on board the carrier said the voyage to the east coast of America follows increased activity in the North Atlantic by the Russian fleet.

The commander said: “The increase in Russian activity we have seen in the last couple of years is frightening and for national security reasons it just underlies why we need to maintain a balanced strong and capable fleet. It’s quite eye-watering what we’ve seen in recent years.”

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Britain, Defence, Government, NATO, Norway

Britain and Norway in collaborative mission to curb Russian threat

DEFENCE

BRITAIN’S new fleet of submarine-hunters will work alongside Norwegian forces as a deterrent to the Russian threat.

Britain and Norway will combat the resurgent threat from Russian naval forces by sharing facilities for new Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA).

The “significant increase in Russian submarine activity” means NATO naval forces are at particular risk in the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea.

The UK will take delivery next year of the first nine P-8A aircraft, at a cost of around £3billion.

Norway is buying five of them in a move that reflects the “changing security environment” in the North Atlantic, according to a statement jointly signed by the UK, Norway and the US.

The UK aircraft will be based at RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland, with operational and logistical support extended to the Norwegian planes.

The plan to share facilities comes in the wake of comments by Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, that increased Russian naval activity in the Atlantic “shows the increasing aggression [and] increasing assertiveness of Russia”.

He said the Royal Navy had responded 33 times to Russian warships approaching UK territorial waters in 2017 compared with just once in 2010.

The decision in 2010 to scrap Britain’s MPA capability was subsequently reviewed in light of Russia’s military actions in Georgia and Ukraine, according to a spokesperson for the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The UK is investing in nine P-8A maritime patrol aircraft.

“The change of gear in the relationship with Russia meant filling the gap [in MPA capability] in the 2015 Defence Review was a significant priority.”

Submarine hunting skills had been retained in the RAF by embedding personnel in the US, Canada, Australian and New Zealand armed forces. The decision was taken in 2015 to revive a sovereign British maritime patrol capability.

Submarines are the most potent part of the Russian navy.

The fleet consists of about 60-70 vessels and only a handful could pose a problem for NATO naval forces. The P-8 conducts anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, and shipping interdiction, along with an electronic signals intelligence role.

This involves carrying torpedoes, depth charges, Harpoon anti-ship missiles and other weapons.

The Poseidon’s search radar is optimised for detecting small objects on the surface of the sea, such as submarine periscopes, as well as larger surface contacts. And it deploys sonobuoys to help detect submarines.

A spokesperson for Norway’s Ministry of Defence previously stated: “Norway and the UK are natural partners given our shared values, as well as our history and geography.”

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Britain, Government, Politics, Scotland, Society

Brexit and the devolution settlement

BREXIT

For most of the two decades following Scottish devolution, nobody would have anticipated for a moment that the UK would be leaving the European Union or that this would have consequential effects on relations between Edinburgh and London.

But, given we have had two years of dithering as the UK Government decided what kind of Brexit it wanted, there was surely a time when a sensible compromise could have been delivered that respected the devolution settlement and one that did not undermine the UK’s own internal market.

. See also Scotland’s EU Continuity Bill now being tested in Supreme Court

Instead, what we have witnessed is relations descending into a bitter row over what the SNP has described as a “power grab” over issues that are currently controlled by the EU (but which would otherwise be devolved).

In the context of the arguments, both the UK and Scottish Governments had a point. Westminster wants to make sure the UK doesn’t leave the wealthiest single market in the world and end up with further sub-divisions inside the UK. Yet, it’s not unreasonable for the SNP to be concerned that matters which are supposed to be devolved might end up being controlled in London. Whilst the UK Government insists this will not happen and that powers transferring from the EU will all be sorted out eventually, it does feel like ministers ran out of time to sort out a deal in advance of Brexit.

What has transpired since is the potential start of a constitutional crisis. The Scottish Parliament passed its own Continuity Bill in an attempt to safeguard the disputed powers of which the bill’s legitimacy is currently being considered by the UK Supreme Court.

An indication of the reason behind the chaos has emerged in a report by MPs that says Whitehall officials don’t actually understand devolution. This is all the more surprising given that the committee is chaired by Sir Bernard Jenkin, a prominent Conservative Brexiteer.

Scotland’s Constitution Secretary Mike Russell remarked it is an “astonishing state of affairs” and one that should be rectified as soon as possible (which will only happen after Brexit now). There is perhaps, though, a silver lining that stands out from the conclusions of the report, in that the UK Government hasn’t been deliberately trying to grab powers that should be devolved. It’s simply been struggling to understand what to do.

Might this just be the basis for a general cooling of tensions between Holyrood and Westminster and a chance to find a reasonable way forward? In these turbulent times, that would certainly help.

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