Thin Pinstriped Line

There are certain inevitable news articles out there that use statistics to make an easy headline. One of these is articles involving travel expenses and remuneration figures – particularly when it involves the Public Sector. The Mirror has run a story  suggesting that the MOD has ‘wasted’ significant sums of money on staying in expensive luxury hotels overseas. According to the paper this came out of a total spend of over £205 million on travel last year. The inference in the article is that this travel is exclusively being done by civil servants and fat cat bosses, who are living it up while our brave boys are struggling for boots and bullets. Is this accurate, or is there more to it than meets the eye? Business travel is a necessary evil for many large organisations, particularly those who operate across the world. Although to date Humphrey has not been able to find the specific FOI request filed to generate these answers, it is, based on the figures quoted, almost ce...

It was excellent to see the Royal Navy’s latest warship, HMS FORTH quickly settle into the busy operational life of an Offshore Patrol Vessel this week. Having barely completed sea trials, she found herself in the Channel this week escorting a Russian warship (the Vasily Byskov) on transit. The challenge with this sort of escort mission is that it seems to attract views from a lot of social media commentators that somehow using an OPV in this way means the UK has ‘failed’ by not sending a ‘proper warship’ to do the job. HMS FORTH at sea- Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright The role of escorting ships from other nations through our waters is a task that has been carried out by many different Royal Navy warships. Some are large, for example the Fleet Ready Escort may be called out, while others are smaller – for example the use of the MCMV force. The one thing they have in common is that each vessel that puts to sea is a fully operational warship, commissioned an...

The RAF has plunged to its lowest level in history, with fewer fast jets than ever before available to keep the nation safe. Despite MOD protestations to the contrary, it is clear that a plane cannot be in two places at once, and defence cuts have put the nation at risk. This seems to be a fairly quick summary of an article from the Daily Mail today which is looking at the number of aircraft available to the RAF right now. Its an interesting article to read, and it was good to see the Mail managed to get all the captions right and not put a picture of a Russian fighter jet in by mistake. That’s better than some Government Departments have managed recently…   But, in all seriousness, is this an issue the public should be concerned about, or is it merely a stating of numbers which bears little resemblance to the reality of the situation? Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright The big challenge with ‘like for like’ aircraft numbers comparisons is that they v...

Events in the Gulf are continuing to pose a real challenge to regional and international security. In recent weeks the intentional sabotage of merchant vessels near an Emirati port, the explosions on oil tankers at sea in the Gulf, seemingly conducted by Iranian forces, and finally the recent shooting down of an unmanned US drone have all led to a deterioration in the security situation. This is an extremely complex, fast moving and challenging situation without a clearly identifiable end state or ‘off ramp’ immediately at hand. While the hope must remain that events calm down, and that wider conflict is averted, it remains a challenging time. Already there seem to a number of wider lessons and implications that are worth considering. HMS DARING on operations in the BAM- Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright Firstly, these events help remind us that for many years now Iran has essentially been engaged in a proxy war against both the West and its Middle East...

The British Army is once again under fire for reportedly recruiting nearly 50% of its intake to Sandhurst from Private Schools. Each year hundreds of potential Officers report to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, hoping to pass a gruelling year long course and receive a Commission, and the prize of being able to lead some of the finest men and women in the world for a living. Official MOD statistics suggest that for the last few years, of the approximately 600 strong annual intake to RMAS, nearly half of them identify as having gone to Public school rather than a State school. (For the benefit of non-UK readers, Public schools are fee paying schools and State schools are fee free schools). Is this a problem though, or is it something that is an issue only in the minds of those who let it bother them? RMAS Passing out Parade- Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright The first question is to consider some numbers and context. It is important to note that of...

The phrase ‘Coastal Forces’ brings to mind gunboats charging across the Channel in WW2, engaged in brutal combat with enemy forces at near point-blank range, and conducting highly dangerous missions in hostile territory. It evokes a mindset of small ships, working in a co-ordinated fashion to enter difficult waters and bring the fight to the enemy. The role of Coastal Forces was to attack enemy forces and convoys or insert small patrols of troops and agents into hostile territory. It was also, where possible to launch assaults against larger targets of opportunity as well. The Royal Navy formally disbanded its Coastal Forces assets in the 1950s, recognising that the nature of the fight had changed. But to this day it continues to operate a reasonable number of patrol craft whose missions carry the legacy of this force. This force is primarily made up of some 16 ARCHER class ‘Coastal Training Craft’ (or sometimes known as the P2000s) is the modern day successors. Each vessel i...