Thin Pinstriped Line

The RUSI has published an excellent and extremely thought-provoking report into the challenges facing the British Army and its artillery capabilities, and the impact that this may have on operations. The report by Jack Watling is an extremely thoroughly well researched and comprehensive analysis of the challenges in this area, coupled with a good credible look at what this means for the British Army as a whole. It rightly deserves widespread coverage and analysis. The report was widely covered in the media in, perhaps, somewhat more sensationalist terms than the report itself reads. Widespread comments about how the British Army couldn’t defend itself against a Russian attack and how it was outgunned led to a perception in some articles that the UK couldn’t stand toe to toe with Russia in a fight. There are two very different issues here that need consideration – firstly, the issue of going head to head with Russia, and secondly considering whether the criticisms made and...

Its that time again, a period theoretically seen every five years or so, but occasionally more recently than that. A group of people who it seems cordially loathe each other spend months leaking, shouting, briefing and making grandiose pledges that don’t always get fulfilled. This whole, and at times, unedifying, process is, of course, the latest iteration in a Strategic Defence Review. The Sunday Times leads with a story today that the Army is facing cuts to its manpower, and that in return they want the Navy to be forced to lease or mothball one of the two QUEEN ELIZABETH class carriers. The article talks about a range of debates going on, and the latest news about what may or may not be scrapped or cut in any future budget settlement. Is this something to worry about, or is it merely the opening salvos in what is likely to be a long and painful campaign of attrition? Defence reviews are driven from the very centre of Government – they occur usually with the Prime Minister...

For only the second time in nearly 600 years, the Royal Navy is to provide the Guard at the Royal Palaces in London. This high-profile task is usually carried out by the British Army, although in recent years the RAF and Commonwealth Units have also filled it too. It marks a significant opportunity for the RN to showcase its role as defender of the nation, and direct defender of the Sovereign. Ceremonial duties often attract a mixed response in some quarters. While there is something very impressive about watching the Changing of the Guard or other State Ceremonial function happen, some people ask whether it is the best use of public money. Likewise, for the people involved it means long hours, hard work and often little tangible reward. Is the price worth it? Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright There is often an argument made that what the military need is some kind of ceremonial duties regiment, borne purely for this sort of function and used in no othe...

A common pastime for many people is to ask Freedom of Information requests about MOD facilities, trying to glean information that could be used in a way to generate a media story of some form. One particularly common question is about how many golf courses the MOD owns and whether it has gotten rid of any of them. At the moment the MOD thinks that it owns 19 golf courses – or rather thinks that there are 19 golf courses on land owned by the MOD. For some this image immediately brings to mind the thought of large immaculately maintained courses, through which terribly posh officers play, probably pausing only to beat their caddies (well, they are working class privates after all) and then linger in the 19 th hole for a glass or two, pending some proper soldiering. Golf attracts a certain level of attention precisely because it triggers so many stereotypes and views. It sounds like the armed forces have money to waste on sites that would only benefit the posh and the privilege...

The sea is an unforgiving environment that will ruthlessly punish even the slightest mistake without remorse or pity. Operating at sea is difficult and dangerous, and even routine passages need to be planned with respect for the weather, for the conditions and for the potential for things to go wrong. Some navies are fair weather forces – they go to sea in good weather, or they don’t stay out at night. They may look good on a paper order of battle, and theoretically could do well when their numbers of ships/missiles are added up against a potential foes, but in reality they simply are not sea going navies. Other navies are very good and capable operators, able to go out in difficult conditions and operate effectively. There are many superb ‘small ship’ navies out there which can achieve significant feats of seamanship, often in very dangerous conditions. Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright But from an operational perspective, the most impressive and c...

As the nation pauses to remember the sacrifices made in war by the armed forces, the British Armed Forces continue to be deployed on exercises and operations across the globe. Even 74 years after the end of WW2 they remain committed to work on every continent on the planet supporting the UK and wider coalition interests. One of the most significant exercise commitments this year has been the British Army and ‘Tractable’   (sometimes referred to as either ‘Op’ or ‘Exercise’ but without a title on the British Army website. This major undertaking has been running for some weeks now and has highlighted how the British Army continues to excel at undertaking large scale movements of units in order to be ready to conduct operations as required. The genesis of Tractable was the need to rotate assets out of Estonia and send new vehicles from the UK in their place. It is often overlooked that the UK now has over 900 British Army personnel permanently stationed in Estonia as part of...

Media reports today are suggesting that the RAF ‘top brass’ are being ordered to amend military dress policy based on an alleged case brought by a serving vegan who wanted to be issued vegan appropriate uniform. The article suggests that the RAF will in future be forced to issue vegan friendly boots, flying gear and wool free berets to meet the needs of service members who require them. It must be said that the whole article does read a little strangely, referring to cases between a named individual and the RAF, internal guidelines on ‘grilling applicants’ about their clothing needs and talking about how the other services may be forced to adapt to these changes too. When coupled with an unusually robust denial from the MOD about vegan issues, the whole story feels a little ‘odd’. There appear to be two distinct elements to the story, a ‘test case’ for which there is no reference as to the level to which it happened, what form of case it took (e.g. was it a Courts Martial, w...