Thin Pinstriped Line

Some readers may be aware that the UK Foreign Secretary is in Asia at present, and trying to set out the case for wider UK engagement in this vastly complicated and hugely challenging area. The Think Defence website has a full transcript of his recent speech which sets out the UKs strategic  views on engagement with the region. To Humphrey, this particular speech is of interest as it clearly sets out the level of UK engagement with, and involvement in, a very high profile area. It is well worth reading to gain a better understanding of the challenges we face in the region, and also to see how the UK policy in the area is likely to evolve. The author is currently working on a long think piece which should hit the streets shortly about the UK military presence in Asia, and this speech goes a long way to showing why our military engagement in the area matters. Link to a transcript of the speech is here - http://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/2012/04/britain-in-asia-william-hagues-spe...

Humphrey is on the verge of departing for a much needed holiday and has been extremely busy of late, thus reducing the amount of time available to update this blog. One thing that has caught his eye this week, and something that he’s been musing on for a while is the concept of ‘Sea Blindness’. This was spurred by listening to a discussion where it was noted that even the US Navy felt that they were in a nation suffering from ‘Sea Blindness’. The first question that comes to mind is ‘what is Sea Blindness’? Arguably it simply means that the public, and by extension Governments of nations do not understand the maritime domain, and do not understand the case for the maritime domain – not just from a military, but also from a wider sector perspective. Personally this author dislikes this term, as it implies a state of permanence towards the public view of the sea. The phrase implies that there is no cure to the notion that the public will never understand the maritime case, and that ...

Yesterdays Daily Telegraph ran a report suggesting that it had seen a document classified as SECRET UK EYES ONLY, sourced from DSTL and which made extensive comments on the suitability or not of various variants of the F35, which the papers claim is currently being subjected to scrutiny as part of the MODs annual spending round. The purpose of this article is not to comment on that specific paper, but more generally to enable this author to try to express in words his anger at the utterly irresponsible actions of the individual who felt it was appropriate to so publicly breach the trust they were extended and leak a highly classified document in order to meet their own agenda. Humphrey is not naïve, he fully accepts that leaking of documents is probably the third oldest profession (and no doubt is closely related to both the first and second professions!). It is inevitable that in all walks of life, there is a clear desire to try to protect ones interests, or to stand up fo...

Recent events in the Far East, including the failed test of a ‘satellite’ launcher by North Korea have thrown in to focus once again the smouldering tinderbox that is the Asia Pacific region. It is perhaps significant then that the US ambassador to Australia has intimated publicly that the US would support and assist the future Australian submarine programme, even if it included nuclear propulsion as a viable option. Link is CLICK HERE This is a significant development, and one which represents the growing importance of Australia as a close ally to the US. This authors personal view is that Australia is developing a relationship with the US which will see it emerge as a particularly favoured nation of choice when it comes to joint operations and work – given the strategic shift of US forces in the Asia-Pacific region, one is left with the impression that two key partners of choice exist now – the UK to cover Europe / Africa, and Australia to cover Asia Pacific, and always ensuring tha...

Several newspapers have been carrying stories about some RAF personnel complaining at the prospect of their being made redundant, and being reminded that they have a reserve liability. (Link to the Daily Telegraph article is HERE ). This once again feels like another non story being dragged up by the media to try and bash the MOD around the head and make it look inept and incompetent, but which actually has an interesting truth to it, that is unlikely to be told by the media. Currently, when people join the regular armed forces, they are reminded on joining that they are not signing up to a period of purely active service. There remains a theoretical obligation on leaving the military to be available for recall as a Regular Reservist. This appears to almost date back to the era of conscription in European armies during the 19 th Century, whereby the regular military was relatively small, but could be quickly swelled by conscripts in the event of a general call up – an event best see...

April 1 st is always a time in the UK military when significant changes seem to occur to structures or organisations. This appears to be tied in to the start of the new Financial Year, although given some of the decisions taken over the years, one can’t help but feel there is a more ironic intent in choosing the date. Sticking his parochial service hat on, Humphrey is still waiting for someone to confirm on April 1 st that the longest running April fool of all time (namely the foundation of the RAF) is over, and that the 100 year experiment has ended early, but this is unlikely to happen. For the Royal Navy though, April 2 nd this year marked a very significant change to a long established command structure which did not receive the attention it perhaps deserved. Since the current government came to office, there have been two major reviews into the structure of the armed forces – namely the SDSR, and also the Levene Review. These reviews have tried to achieve reductions in costs t...

There were reports in the Daily Telegraph that the UK is poised to sign a new Defence co-operation treaty with Japan, and potentially usher in the door to a new era of co-operation between the two nations. (Link is HERE ) The paper claimed, without further explanation, that this could lead to an increased UK SSN presence in the region, while it could also lead to further co-operation with defence industry, and potentially herald some sales of T26 frigates too. This potentially heralds an exciting development for the UK and its engagement within the region – which for too long has been an area seemingly occupying a lower priority for UK defence engagement. Japan as a nation is going through what feels to be a change in attitude towards its Self Defence Forces. Traditionally, since WW2, the Japanese have maintained strong and capable forces able to deter external aggression, but which lack the reach and logistics support to operate far from the Japanese home islands. A latent pacifism, ...