The Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) equipment plan reveals a “broken system” that could undermine the UK’s ability to contribute to Nato, an influential group of MPs has said.
In a damning report published today, the Public Accounts Committee warned that the department’s 10-year plan is “out of date” and fails to reflect lessons emerging from the war in Ukraine a year into the conflict.
The committee noted the MOD’s quick response in assisting Ukraine but said it was not convinced there was “sufficient urgency” to deliver new capabilities needed by the UK’s own Armed Forces.
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We don't have a standing Army technically, we have at best a militia due to numbers. A pathetic husk of what it once was due to decades of defence cuts, now all of a sudden it doesn't seem so clever!
All we needed was a Warrior 2, Challenger 3, a new modular FV432, and we could’ve kept Boxer as a armoured replacement for Saxons/Scaracen. Huskies could’ve already replaced the Land Rovers in combat roles as the Jackals replaced the Wolves and CVRT series.
I could hardly have expressed the situation more clearly than this guy, thank God somebody has foresight and a sense of urgency.
Thing is, just getting back to normal isn't nearly enough. And doing things like before is plain wrong.
MOD need to be thinking defence in terms of future possibilities, many of which are hard to imagine right now. Not just making the same stuff only slightly better…
Peace is won by demonstrable strength, based on weapons superiority aka arms race, and manufacturing capacity.
War is won by rapid evolution of said tech, and ramping up of capacity.
It's a national crisis, and not all the fault of MOD, as like so many other industries the defence of UK seems to be relying on boutique or museum infrastructure and facilities.
What is of strategic importance seems to play second fiddle to anything commercial and especially land (witness airfield closures). Lining the pockets of someone no doubt.
General industry swallowed up by foreign competition and closed without a second thought, to the point that we don't have any measurable capacity to make anything without imported materials and components. Again, money over strategy.
Like the softly softly aka invisible police, military public displays have been seen as distasteful or culturally insensitive, except when something royal is needed, a historical anachronism with zero military value. So the public are clueless and a bit alarmed when they see uniforms on the street etc. Instead of being appreciative and supportive.
And of course like literally every other government spending budget, the layers of waste and graft are insane, but are normalised and justified by the vast complexity. Government contract, let's make hay!!
But first there has to be the will to pass legislation to increase the pot, hence denying the other worthy causes which are unsurprisingly in dire straits also, and they are at least allowed to strike for more as is plain to see…
Or increase taxes. But that will never happen because politicians want to win elections, and the electorate want to vote for 'their' team. Rather than for what is good for us all.
Anyone interested in the green agenda will also be disappointed by the fact that defence and by extension war is about as far from green as you can get. But without strong defence UK can't project power globally where so many nations prioritize economic and military strength.
And also laughably late is Sunak announcing maths being extended in the education of the nation, since STEM subjects are the bedrock of technology and manufacturing, on which defence procurement depends utterly (for strategic home grown products).
So yeah, nice speech but can't fix the errors 50years in the making.
The cultural Stupid Cheapness of the British, combined with the overt Sloth and poor-quality workmanship, Decade after decade Just redefines the words Failure and stupidity…" They don't care anymore".
Humm, and while we are at it several more battle groups (adequately equipped), several more squadrons (of all types of aircraft), more ships to protect our two aircraft carriers (or they will remain white elephants), and air groups appropriate to the two ship's capacity. And don't retire any more challengers for Christ's sake reinstate what we have if for no other reason that we may require to donate more or actually need the blessed things ourselves… wittering on about "growing our economy," This will grow it just fine!
The enemy is our politicians and spineless generals.
UK hasn't been strong on land since WW1. Nothing will change…
Defence in depth is the lesson here ….. Was not hard to forecast that once a nation has burned through all its small quantities of high tech kit very quickly, you then rely on the mass of the old stuff wheeled out of storage. T55 …say no more !!
In Forces News We Trust
I have to admit that our ability to deliver equipment for our countries forces is taking longer and longer, 15 years for a frigate, you couldn't make it up! The whole situation has been exasperated by running old kit past it's end of life date and not replacing with like for like in numbers, At this rate we'll be lucky if the army will be able to fight an aggressor for more than a couple of weeks before having to surrender.
Friends of Ukraine. I am writing you the last words of the 6-year-old girl who was shot by the Russian communist vampires. he said to the soldier. her name was Mariana Tirvikova. FATHER. DAD . I WANT TO LIVE . I DON'T WANT TO DIE. I NEVER MISSED ANYONE. THIS GREEN BAD GUY PE SHOT [RUSSIAN] . SAVE MY MOM. FATHER SAVE ME.
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We've done the same thing in the US. I've lost count on how many times we've tried to replace a vehicle by spending billions in R&D, to only completely abandon it. Comanche comes to mind as well as replace the Bradleys.
Had the Western powers taken a leaf out of Israeli foreign policy, Russia would be the breadbasket of the world and China it’s kitchen. We know China and Russia are the problems but no one wants to put them in their place. So we have problems.
I like the conversation in Billy Wilder’s 1,2,3. An idealistic young communist is horrified when a defecting commissar explains that in the Soviet Union they have TWO self-destruct buttons for faulty equipment. One for the equipment, the other for the designer.
I guarantee the idiots in the MOD will still get a nice bonus
Spending only about 2% of GDP in defence is what is leaving us in a "vulnerable state"; The rest is derivative.
Sale of Royal Ordnance was the start of decline !
The Tories are nothing but scum for what they have done too our country and armed forces
Offer bonuses for early delivery, and penalties for late delivery and you will be amazed at how things change.
We could just buy off the shelf. US kit and equipment is always far better than ours just buy there’s! We work together anyway .. makes total sense .. army and government brass never change .. line there own pockets with deals to their mates
Let's be honest, we have thousands of unknowns entering the UK 🇬🇧 by dinghies every week. They don't care about any of us, it seems..!
Probably the worst time to 'buy in' as we really are unsure what the rapidly changing battlefield will be. The real story though is that its not the MOD as its been government gerrymandering that has caused major delays (The carrier fiasco is 1 example) even if the General in charge of AJAX was an absolute disaster.
totally agree
Defence Procurement MUST lead from the front. Industry reacts to their direction. Stuff happens which must be recognised aka COVID or an earthquake in California for example but lead and be situationally decisive, not scared.
Dribble dribble spending the British people’s tax money mr dribble
Give the army wot in need s best train military in the world 🌎 but our daf mp bin cutting bk for years know they know they mess up. Glod bles USA 🇺🇸 best equipment in the world. R.i.p the Queen x
He is correct? It is time to get working and presenting working equipments in good order the tme for trials is over.
Is it surprising? the amount of resources going in to getting non white people in to high ranking RAF positions and the constant perverted sex propaganda, newsflash, China doesn't care if your pilots are white or which hole the soldiers put their genitals in.
War doesn't wait for your schedule.
The UK should be allocating 4% GDP on Defence. This, as a baseline minimum. That would cover everything the UK could really need and end the constant bickering and overtly divisive funding problems. The UK has gone from ~1,200 MBTs in 1991 to ~200 now. It's a crying shame. The UK did spend over 4% on GDP in the late 1980's to early 1990's and arguably over 5% (almost 6%) back in the early 1980's. During the Korean War of the 1950's it was more like 10%.
In WWII the UK spent practically half of it's GDP on Defence for obvious reasons, in an existential struggle to survive. Nobody is suggesting that of course, nor even the 10% of the early Cold War, or the 5% of the penultimate decade of the late Cold War. But the 1991 era 3.9-4% UK GDP on Defence did make so much more sense. It still does, and hindsight, in my opinion, has vindicated it as a sort of goldilocks zone for nominal peacetime spending. It's just a hunch, though I do think that there is something about the 4% GDP mark which just makes more sense as a baseline.
NATO should redefine it's membership aims to be more like 3% as a bare minimum and more like 4% if we're taking it seriously. The 2% thing is a mistake. It's long been a mistake but nobody is calling it out. It's allowed the majority of Europe to piggyback off the USA's Defence Budget, and everyone and their dog can see that is plainly the case, with the USA contributing 70% of NATO's funding by itself. Regardless of the immensity of the US annual GDP and their military budget as a share of that, per annum, it is still largely a complete disgrace how large swathes of Europe treat their defence commitments (or at least, have done, historically)
Ironically, Germany, the largest economy in Europe, is also guilty of this in a serious way, usually spending about 1% GDP on Defence and sometimes slightly less than that. Germany claims to be rolling a further 100 Billion Euros into their Defence commitments in the next few years, but I'll believe it when I see it. A lot of talk comes out of the German media about that but it's still mainly just equivocation and false promises, at least as far as the eye can tell. I have zero doubt that the Germans will massively increase defence spending, with the situation in Ukraine waking a lot of people up from some classic delusions, though make no mistake; the 100 Billion extra Euros thing is somewhat fanciful at this point. It'd be interesting if Germany does commit to that. All the same, it's not particularly convincing.
Germany has long dragged it's heels on Defence and has been able to roll a lot of money into other sectors, effectively by taking advantage of the USA. It's one of the worst offenders for it because of how powerful the German economy really is (it has zero excuse to have become the bureaucratic mess that the Bundeswehr is now) Merkel's long primacy in German politics, allowed for that environment to be fostered, and to fester. This toxic attitude against any overt signs of German self-belief and confidence in their armed forces, because of now archaeological fears of the mid 20th century.
It needs to get a grip and pull it's weight. Same goes for plenty of other countries in Europe, other than the UK, Greece and Poland. With the currently most powerful land army in Western Europe, and a very respectable number of aircraft and warships, I can't say that France is not really 'pulling it's weight'. Of course it is, in many ways. Though technically, just like Britain, loitering in the low 2% range of decimal points above or sometimes slightly below it, over the past few decades.
There are no two ways about it, France has a big army and a powerful array of weapons systems, though it could still do far better. Just like the UK. Britain and France are really quite comparable in this regard, being about as populous and economically powerful as each other. The main difference being, France has a considerably larger land army, and a little more of most things (almost as though France is trying to outdo the UK by whatever marginal sum, just cos) Not saying that is what is happening though the numbers tell their own story.
Britain needs to spend more on Defence. Poland is massively increasing it's Defence expenditure with a literal doubling of it's army numbers. Japan is claiming to be doubling it's entire Defence Budget in the next few years. France and Germany are upscaling their militaries in spite of recent cuts to both. The USA is looking at spending something like $850-880 Billion in their 2024 budget (up by so much that an already insane budget is now approaching a trillion, rapidly) It is fair to say that the UK can do better than the 2.2 or 2.3% GDP currently spent. I know the Sunak government has committed to expanding the UK Defence Budget to 2.5% GDP by 2025, but that, in my view, still doesn't go far enough.
Now the UK is part of AUKUS and will be devoting roughly half of the recent £5 Billion Defence increase pledged this year, to AUKUS, that leaves the less impressive remainder to go to helping other things. And yes, it's better to have a couple billion more quid jangling around the Armed Forces which obviously means that is a couple billion quid not being penny-pinched from one service to the next. Yes, it's generally better than nothing. But considering rising inflation, the cost escalation creep of many kinds of vehicles and systems and the various unsatisfactory areas of UK Defence, then it soon gets engulfed by the problems it is meant to salve and solve.
In other words, yes, at least it stops the money already allocated being wrestled off this or that service branch by another, though that is hardly satisfactory if we're supposed to be taking procurement seriously. This isn't just about fancy new gadgets and weapons systems, or a new warship or aircraft. It's about the infrastructure and support services for military service personnel during and after their service.
think we need to stop trying to reinvent the wheel. yes we need to go with some new advanced gear but we should also be buying stuff of the shelf. also need to shoot whoever deals with contracts, if it goes over budget and time the providing company takes that cost as its not the MOD's fault they haven't delivered
2:00 He caught himself there
I am sure this guy has a lot of useful things to say about defence, but I would pull him up on two things. Ajax problem was misaligned hulls, built in Spain, presumably caused by UK pro EU politicians signalling their European credentials and ordering something that could have been built in the UK from the EU. The other very similar problem, Is parts sourced from abroad. Delayed parts for Hawk engines from France, parts from Germany for the Typhoon. The MoD has to learn that parts should be manufactured in the UK wherever possible and when they cannot they must keep a big inventory. When looking at the difference between production in the UK as apposed to cheaper cost abroad it has to be balanced at a higher cost of a bigger inventory as well as tax return etc.
Easy, scrap AJAX and order CV90, it´s from BAE as well?
And proven.
This happens all the time, every British government get it wrong.
We could buy military hardware already proven and ready to go
No the government of the day decides to just spend billions of tax payers money instead
Massively so, look at Ajax and it’s still what 3 to 4 Years away still. We need more investment in Artillery and AA systems as well as just buying something like CV90 off the shelf as well as bolstering the RAF with more AWACS and fighters
What is the point of "putting a rocket under the defence suppliers" if the specifications are constantly changed by defence top brass??
Specifications HAVE to be locked down before design and production. There is a certain amount of flexibility for tweaks along the way, but not major redirection!!
put Lord Beaverbrook on the job. Do U have a spare Churchill to put the government to rights? We in Canada face the same problem. Wounded bears are unpredictable.
buy CV90
"When it comes to procurement, there must be a justifiable balance between time, costs and result"
Warfare has changes massively in recent times and what a modern war would look like has been ignored or not even thought about. Could this be down to procurement and who it benefits?
Also factor in who is doing the 'thinking' , many it seems have no idea what could be used in the future , let alone what is being used right now… Also it seems way too much focus in certain areas , not to mention the decline of the Army…
There was a time when denying your enemy the ability to use their equipment was thought about…
Hello everyone. Retired US Army Infantry here and while being a dinosaur, would like to give some simple thoughts. Number one, technology is great and I embrace it. BUT!! Low tech is going to be decisive when we will face war at a full-spectrum level. Before night vision was well-developed, we knew how to dig a foxhole, with over head over (look at the Ukrainian positions, think of indirect fire and drones and sadly, they have zero such cover from what I see, granted from a PC). Aiming stakes to cover your sector of fire, offset vision for night operations. So many things are not even covered in the manuals anymore. If we have a mass mobilization, industry, tech etc., will not be able to keep up. Last thought, American Sherman tanks were very inferior to German Tigers etc. But, when we were producing 10-1, the results are history. I am not General Patton or some genius Just an old Infantryman who would hate to see any mistakes. I did best with no resources and out-performed organizations with all the gadgets. SALUTE everybody.
It’s not only in the UK! In Australia plenty of projects are over budget and failed to meet the operational requirements for years! And now because of AUKUS we are now facing a massive cut in procurement programs (yes I know they will say change in circumstances but really it’s because they have been ordering top of the line gear – which doesn’t meet our strategic reality) and it’s all about contracts and votes! So we buy gear developed for major land battles in Europe when we are in fact an island nation which is most desert and scrub!
Brown envelopes!
There is a full scale war raging in the heart of Europe and the government of Brexit Britain is more incompetent than that of Neville Chamberlain and our idiots seem to believe that this is a Phony War!!!! 😮 Spoiler Alert ⚠️ 📢 This War is "REALLY HAPPENING!"