UK endrer forsvarsdoktrine - Dramatiske endringer - F-35 bestillinger reduseres - Financial Times

UK military makes sweeping cuts as focus moves to technological warfare Army to lose 9,500 personnel while older tanks, aircraft and warships will be retired.  A third of the UK’s Challenger II tanks are to be axed, as well as the entire fleet of more than 700 Warrior vehicles 

© Ministry of Defence Helen Warrell and Sylvia Pfeifer in London YESTERDAY 143 

UK defence chiefs are imposing sweeping cuts across all three armed services, retiring older tanks, warships and aircraft and cutting thousands of soldiers in an effort to prepare for a new era of digital warfare. 

 The strategy, unveiled on Monday, is the military contribution to Downing Street’s new integrated review of defence, security and foreign policy — which sets out Britain’s plans to counter growing threats from Russia and China. Ben Wallace, defence secretary, said he was turning “hollow” forces into credible ones, and marking a move from mass mobilisation to “information-age speed, readiness and relevance”. “I know some colleagues would rather play top trumps with our force numbers,” he told MPs. “But there is no point boasting about numbers of regiments . . . or simply counting the number of tanks when our adversaries are developing ways to defeat them.” 

 The Ministry of Defence paper — titled “Defence in a Competitive Age” — cuts the army by 9,500 to a force of 72,500 over the next four years. The recruitment target of 82,000 set in a 2015 defence review had not been met and the current force is closer to 76,000. Still, this will be the smallest full-time army the UK has had for centuries, and undermines Boris Johnson’s promise during the 2019 election campaign that the Conservatives would “not be cutting our armed services in any form”. We’re adapting to emerging threats while assuming that the old threats have disappeared, and they haven’t Tobias Ellwood, chair Commons defence committee.

Challenger tanks

 In another blow to the army, the entire fleet of more than 700 Warrior infantry fighting vehicles is to be axed, and a third of the Challenger II tanks cut. The remaining 148 Challengers will be upgraded, at a cost of £1.3bn.  

 Overall, more than 100 older aircraft are being retired, including 20 Puma helicopters and the entire Hercules fleet, while the number of Royal Navy frigates and destroyers will drop from 19 to 17 for a short period later this decade before new warships come into service. Tobias Ellwood, chair of the House of Commons defence committee, warned the decisions marked an erosion of the UK’s “full-spectrum defence capabilities”. “We’re adapting to emerging threats while assuming that the old threats have disappeared, and they haven’t,” he said. “There is a tilt to technology, and of course we have to remain on the cutting edge. But let's not forget that scale counts. In Afghanistan, we had the technological edge completely. And still we lost the war.” 

 The strategy announced on Monday included some detail on future areas of spending, including a commitment to invest £5bn in a new generation of military satellites to enhance capabilities in space. However, there was little on the new technologies — such as drones, or artificial intelligence on the battlefield — which are being developed to replace ageing equipment. 

Tempest - BAE Systems

 Boris Johnson alongside a Tempest fighter on a visit to BAE Systems. The RAF is to get an extra £1.2bn for the programme © REUTERS Jack Watling, a land warfare specialist at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said the decision to scrap Warrior overturned “decades of army doctrine” and warned of a potential capability gap given that the Boxer armoured vehicle, the rollout of which is being brought forward, is not a like-for-like replacement for Warrior. “The UK could easily find itself spread too thin,” Watling said. “This could have a serious and tangible impact on how many operations the British can be involved in, and how long for.” 

 Peter Ruddock, UK chief executive of America's Lockheed Martin, which has been in talks with the MoD about modernising the Warrior, said he was “disappointed” with the decision not to proceed with the planned upgrade. The company has previously warned that cancellation could put at risk close to 2,000 industry jobs.  Recommended UK foreign policy Defence and security review sets out Global Britain’s balancing act The clear winner of the review was the Royal Navy, which has benefited from the prime minister’s desire to create a “renaissance” in British shipbuilding. Investment in constructing new craft is set to double over the life of this parliament to £1.7bn a year, the strategy said. 

 The Royal Air Force also received a surprise funding boost with an extra £1.2bn for its next-generation Tempest combat jet programme, raising total investment to over £2bn over the next four years. This will include both manned and unmanned aircraft, and will be operational from 2035. However, the MoD paper did not offer any clarity on future orders of F-35 Lightning jets, saying only that the RAF would increase the fleet beyond the 48 already ordered, with no mention of the 138 previously promised. Military experts have consistently said the UK’s armed forces would need a minimum of 70 to enable a credible strike capability from Britain’s two aircraft carriers. 

 The cost savings drew widespread criticism including from John Healey, Labour’s shadow defence secretary, who said the strategy was “a plan for cuts now with a promise of jam, tomorrow.” But Gen Sir Richard Barrons, former head of the UK’s joint forces command, endorsed the new plan. “Having the number of people in the army as the only metric of effectiveness is clearly flawed as they have to be equipped and trained and supported in order to be useful,” he said. “The army used to be about a large number of people manning a modest amount of equipment. In the future we will have relatively fewer people manning more equipment.”