Thin Pinstriped Line

  Footage of the failed take-off, and subsequent ejection by the pilot from an F35 jet, embarked onboard HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH has been leaked on social media. This footage, taken using what appears to be a portable electronic device filming footage on a TV, was taken without permission, and shared. Within hours the story had spread through a variety of Whatsapp groups, other social media channels and Twitter, before making the transition onto mainstream media channels. Within 24hrs it was being reported across both British and global media, and has now become the source of a variety of memes. Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright There are several issues to reflect on from this situation, particularly around leaking, operational security and ‘the right to know’. Leaking is something which is both the lifeblood of government policy and also something that happens for a variety of less noble reasons. Leakers can be malicious – people with access to information that they ...

    The British Army has announced its new plans for its revised future structure and operational roles. The announcement made by the Secretary of State for Defence sets out how the British Army will be restructured into a force of 73,000 regulars, supported by reservists and civil servants. This announcement can be seen as the latest attempt to try to define what it is that the British Army role should be in the post Cold War, post HERRICK era. In many ways it is the continuation of a policy emphasis set in the 2010 SDSR that foresaw the UK stepping away from direct ‘heavy’ intervention, towards a more supportive and standoff strategy that prioritised presence and training to prevent conflict occurring. Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright This blog then is not one on ORBATs or structures or discussing in excruciating detail why Unit X needs to be equipped with 18 not 15 tanks – there are plenty of sites on the net for that sort of explicit rivet counting ana...

  It has been claimed that the Civil Service is the home of groupthink, and that this is holding the UK back. These claims, made by the former vaccine lead, Kate Bingham, point to a culture paralysed by consensus building, where specialists are in short supply and mediocrity is promoted over talent. Are these criticisms accurate or fair, or is there an alternative perspective to consider here? The challenge with comparisons between the Civil Service and industry is that the focus is usually on small or medium start ups, able to operate with agility, speed and flexibility to get things done in an incredibly fast time scale. That makes perfect sense in a small organisation of 20 or 30 people, all of whom are often doing multiple jobs, but are fundamentally dedicated to delivering a single product or small range of services well. In these environments it is easier to focus on delivery at pace, trying to bring in experts and draw on their knowledge for product development or deli...

  A British F35 jet has been lost at sea, while operating from the aircraft carrier HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH. The sole fact that matters here is that the pilot ejected safely and is okay. There has been several days of media coverage on this story which has quickly escalated from an aircraft crash into some kind of espionage thriller involving Special Forces, American rescue equipment, and Russian submarines but not Chinese assets as apparently, they already know all there is to know about the F35… Its easy to breathlessly speculate about what went on, but that’s not the point of this article in the slightest. The only facts that we know is that an aircraft has crashed, and that the pilot ejected – as and when there is more to add, then that will be released. Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright There are a few points though that do not relate to loss of the aircraft itself which are worth thinking about in more detail. Firstly, despite some of the ridiculous hysteria on ...

  It is the evening of 10 November 2021. 103 years ago tonight millions of men were engaged in the dying hours of conflict around the world. A war that had begun through a shot fired in the Balkans, then spread inexorably to incorporate dozens of nations across the globe was drawing to a close. In 1918 the British Army was probably at the zenith of its professional prowess. The UK fielded an army that had in the proceeding four years undergone three radical changes, from a tiny army of professionals, to a force drawing on the TA, to a conscript force and then one that emerged blooded and competent to take on and defeat Germany. A force that just a few years previously had numbered at full mobilisation just a few hundred thousand men was now nearly four million strong. It had developed integrated operations with airpower, co-ordinated artillery and armoured attacks and developed and sustained an enormously effective logistical supply chain that enabled it to stay in the field. T...

  One of the great strengths of the British system of Government is that it is able to see documents declassified and released through to the National Archives at Kew. This priceless repository of knowledge houses many files, both physically and electronically which are cleared for public release. Some files emerge in a blaze of glory, covered in the media ahead of time and are of keen public interest. Others slip quietly into public access, with little mention of their existence, and often lurk online for months or years before being spotted.  One such document is about the Chevaline programme (CAB-301-734) , a major update to Polaris in the 1970s, which on closer examination reveals a fascinating story of how the British Government became increasingly reliant on the US for nuclear support, and nearly scrapped its nuclear deterrent. Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright The British nuclear submarine-based deterrent initially came into service in the late 1960s, ...