Thin Pinstriped Line

The Telegraph r eported  on 23 July that despite there being massive cuts to the military, there remained a glut of senior officers (e.g. 1* and above) occupying jobs. According to the DT, based on DASA (the MOD statistics team) results, since 2000 there had been no loss of 4* posts, a growth of in 3* posts and a loss of only four 2* posts in the Army. Meanwhile at lower levels, both 1* and OF5s appeared to have a small growth in relative rank terms. On the face of it this appears to be a story designed to ignite outrage, after all when 20,000 of our brave boys are being fired, isn’t it terrible that the top brass are feathering their nest, and creating jobs for their own boys? The reality though is more subtle and reflects wider changes in the system and way that the military is managed. The first question Humphrey would have is simple – how reliable are the statistics? If you play around with the DASA website (www.dasa.mod.uk)   then you can discover all sorts of int...

One announcement that slipped out under the ‘end of term’ radar last week in Parliament was the decision that the DE&S, which handles procurement and support for the MOD is likely to become a Government Owned, Commercially Operated organisation (GOCO). This decision should not in itself come as a surprise to many. For some time rumours have circulated that the MOD was seeking to divest itself of the DE&S, and put procurement at arms length. This was in part seemingly driven by the review into defence procurement driven by Bernard Gray (the current Chief of Defence Materiel). While it will take some time for the work to be completed, it appears that in future all MOD procurement will be run by the private sector on behalf of the MOD. This is not in itself bad news – one can look at the way in which SERCO has successfully taken on the requirements to deliver RN marine services from the old Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service (RMAS) as an example of where a good ‘GOCO’ can wo...

There have been a few recent snippets relating to naval developments recently that tie together nicely. At its heart are a number of rumours, announcements and policy developments relating to Submarine acquisition, and the wider strategic situation. A new Pan-Asian Alliance? First up are growing rumours that Australia may be seeking to buy into the Japanese SSK programme (known as the Soryu class). It seems that the Australian government has dispatched observers to look at the programme, although its not clear what the result of this would be. Japan has long been constrained by its post-war constitution from exporting military hardware, and it was only relatively recently that the ban on exports was lifted. There have been no sales of Japanese SSKs overseas, and their design capability is optimised for supporting indigenous requirements. The Australian replacement SSK programme is due to identify possible hull types in the near future – well informed sources in the Sidney Mor...

The article below was published in three parts on the Think Defence website. Humphrey wrote the article for Think Defence in support of their excellent summer of strategy season. Readers who are not familiar with TD are strongly recommended to pay it a visit, it provides excellent analysis on a wide range of military issues. The purpose of the article is to function as the first in a series about the UKs current military commitments around the world. If all goes to plan, the follow up part will look at Africa, and in time other regions. It is designed to put across a strictly personal opinion about the level of UK engagement in this region, and seek to inform about why commitments are what they are. The articles have been merged from three into one, and so appear ‘as is’ albeit minus the linking paragraphs. East of East of Suez – the UK commitment to the Asia / Pacific Rim. The Far East is an area which has long held a fascination for many in the UK – both as a...

Having previously looked at the less commonly cited reasons why the RN has a positive future, despite best efforts of naysayers to proclaim it doomed, its time to continue with a look at the purple (or Joint) environment. To many the perception of the purple environment is summed up by the comment made by a frustrated officer, who said ‘The guys in green think Joint is spelt A-R-M-Y’. There is a natural concern from some that working with other services results in a dilution of the ethos of a single service mentality. In fact, this author would argue that not only has working joint been a success for the RN (broadly speaking), but that it has made a crucial operational difference. Humphrey’s definition of ‘Jointery’ is simple – it means ‘the ability of the three services to work together in mixed postings or units to achieve a common output’. At its most simple is the idea of putting personnel from the services together, making them work together and then trying to make efficie...