Thin Pinstriped Line

  As we stagger punch-drunk and exhausted towards the end of a year that has, by any reasonable measure, been an emotional rollercoaster, it is a good time as any to reflect on what 2020 has meant for the UK armed forces. It has been an extremely odd year, but in many ways it has also been reassuringly normal. The year will end as it started for so many core parts of Defence. There will be an SSBN on patrol somewhere in the ocean, fighter jets ready to launch on Quick Reaction Alert, and high readiness forces able to respond to any emergencies. All of this supported by a wide range of military, civil service and contractors on duty as needed. Throughout the year Defence has maintained a global presence, operating on all the continents, and supporting a wide variety of work. Looking back to the start of the year and the Royal Navy was on hand to quickly respond to the heightened security situation in the Gulf, representing the timeless value of sea power in being able to escalat...

 The Royal Navy has announced that Capita has won an almost billion-pound contract to deliver training on its behalf across 16 sites. This contract will play a major role in bringing together the delivery of a range of services across the UK to enhance training for the Royal Navy. Although Capita are the lead bidder, the contract brings in a variety of different companies together under one consortium to deliver this, and at its peak will employ over 1,000 staff delivering training. Is this a good outcome for the Royal Navy, or is it a case of scraping the barrel to save money in defence cuts? Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright One of the often-forgotten things about the RN is that at its heart the organisation is fundamentally a learning organisation. Training is hard baked into the DNA of the RN, from the very first day you join, until you come to leave the service years later, service personnel are expected to attend and participate in all manner of training and...

  The news has leaked out that HMS PRINCE OF WALES may not sail until some point in Spring 2021, some months later than planned. This is reportedly because of issues to do with repairs to the flood onboard the ship earlier this year. The indications are that this may delay planned exercises with partners out in the US. How big an issue is this, and is this something we should worry about? In short, its not ideal, but it could be worse, and even if the flood hadn’t happened, things may have been delayed anyway. Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright For much of this year the POW has been undergoing various planned dockyard work in Portsmouth following her sea trials. The goal was to bring the ship up to standard with any changes or updates that had been lined up since the design was finalised. As can be imagined when the ships were built and the design frozen, things have evolved, so like all major ships, when there has been a delay of a few years between design freeze...

  Its been a busy few weeks for both the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. Activity by Russian forces near UK waters and airspace has been at an extremely high level compared to previous years, and this has seen more activations than usual to monitor them. It is perhaps worth asking ‘why do this’? The British armed forces maintain responsibility for monitoring activity across a significant amount of airspace and the high seas. This fits into wider international obligations, particularly under NATO to help track what is going on, where appropriate monitor it, and if needs be render assistance or take action as necessary. From an aviation perspective, the main challenge is that posed by long range Russian aircraft which are flying down from the northern cape. These cold war veterans, usually ‘Bears’ are extremely long legged and can stay airborne for a very long time. The Russian missions usually cover maritime surveillance, monitoring NATO exercises, or possibly supporting / ...

  The recent budget increase announcement has focused attention on a range of planned purchases by the MOD. The speech by the Prime Minister, setting out some of the new equipment that is likely to be purchased in the years to come has already been exhaustively pored over, and searched for signs of information to inform speculation. One subject that has aroused the most intense debate in a lengthy statement is the near throw-away line about the so-called ‘Type 32 frigate’. This is the first time that there has been any public discussion on this planned ship type. Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright Its fair to say that the naval and military fan corners of the internet have been incredibly excited by this announcement, and there has been a lot of thoughts laid down about the Type 32, and what it could, or could not be. It is not an exaggeration to say that within less than 24hrs of its existence as a concept being revealed, there were furious arguments going on ab...

The Prime Minister has confirmed that the Ministry of Defence will receive a very substantial budget uplift over the next four years to fund national defence and security objectives. This will see some £16bn extra funding, beyond previously agreed spending going into Defence in order to set the conditions to transform the force. Good news – surely? On paper this is an extremely welcome development, and one that will be warmly welcomed across the MOD and wider defence industry. It provides additional funding, and helps provide certainty across several years – making it easier for industry to plan and price projects, knowing there is much greater certainty than there has been for years. The first point to consider is ‘where is the money coming from’? Its unclear yet where the money will come from to support this extra spending. There seem to be several options, which include is it genuinely entirely new money, added without preconditions to the budget to help MOD out of a difficult...

  The British Army is looking to significantly increase the number of robots in its force by 2030. This news , announced last week by the Chief of the Defence Staff highlights the way that the Army wants to change and transform over the next 10 years to take best advantage of new technology. On paper this seems a fairly punchy timeline, and it also raises a number of fascinating questions about what this means for the Army as a whole. For starters, what does an army where robots make up a quarter of its fighting strength actually look like? The move to increased automation and use of technology is not new, armed forces around the world have, throughout history, relied on the power of new technology to change how they do business. Navies in particular have benefitted from new technology to drive down head counts, with crews today often being significantly smaller than 40 or 50 years ago. The challenge for armies though is that while technology can increase manoeuvrability, or ...

  The news that Joe Biden will become the next President of the United States has led to deep analysis in the UK about what this means for the ‘Special Relationship’. Some focus on whether the personal links between the Prime Minister and the President will work, others worry that there appears to be no link between the Biden camp and UK officials. The reality is that every four – eight years the UK press has an outpouring of worry, largely unreciprocated by its US equivalents, about whether the new Administration will be good or bad for Anglo-American relations. It seems to worry people far more than it should for what is a fundamentally mature relationship in reasonable state. Much of Humphrey’s career has been spent working with different parts of the US Government, from visiting the White House (under both Republican and Democrat Administrations), liaison work in the Pentagon and State, working in multilateral arms control negotiations in Brussels and Vienna, to serving emb...