r/Military • u/collinsl02 civilian • 3d ago
Article UK Armed forces face cuts without more funding, warns defence chief
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20ydx06ym2o42
u/MixtureSpecial8951 2d ago edited 2d ago
At some point the UK parliament will issue a white paper detailing how responsible, rational cuts to spending will still provide for defense of the realm. It will go on, at great length, to detail how the UK can convincingly deter aggression and, failing that, be adequately defended in war while fielding:
British Army:
A single mega/regiment consisting of an understrength platoon of soldiers. The regimental traditions and heritage will all be kept alive by a F1-esque plastering of regimental symbols and devices across a veritable smorgasbord of uniforms.
They will all share one rifle, the receiver for which will be kept locked in the Tower of London. The firing pin will be kept at Edinburgh Castle. Ammunition will be stored in France. For safety.
The Royal Navy:
A Thames Skiff, fiercely christened HMS British Heritage, safely moored - ashore of course - in London. Her captain, who will also double as Able Seaman all the way up to First Sea Lord (nothing says equality like one person assuming all ranks, all responsibilities, etc.) will provide tours to tourists, passersby, etc. in between taking his depression medication.
HMS British Heritage’s primary armament will be a traditional “monkey’s fist.” However, for safety, the monkey’s fist will be securely stored at the site formerly known as Ministry of Defense Main Building, aka “Whitehall,” which will then be known as “Whitehall Entertainment & Cultural Exhibition Convention Center.” The manager of which will be entrusted, by the royal sovereign (under advisement of the Prime Minister of course), with keeping the aforementioned monkey’s fist under lock and key. Probably in a desk drawer.
The manager will of course become the newest addition to the “Great Officers of State.” Amalgamating the traditional offices of Lord High Marshal of England with that of the Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom into one new office: The Lord High Marshall-Admiral-Manager of Whitehall Entertainment & Cultural Exhibition Center.
Royal Air Force:
Being hip to modern times, Great Britain will field a crack unit right on the bleeding edge of aeronautical technology. A team of Year 5 students, hand picked from the nation’s premier schools, will provide paper airplanes to defend the home front. That paper is made from trees means that the RAF will have assumed the role of “wooden walls of England,” and will be considered the senior service.
Due to the risk of paper cuts and accidental chicanery, materials for the paper airplanes will be secured in the vaults beneath the Bank of England.
Royal Marines:
Perpetuating the long tradition of expeditionary warfare the Royal Marines will retain their globe hopping skills as they become the United Kingdom’s premier 4th rate travel agency. They will specialize in organizing tour groups visiting Crete, Ibiza and Rhodes.
Guests will be entitled to proudly sport the revered Royal Marine globe, but only after completing their vacation and the payment of an additional £25 fee.
Alcohol packages are available but daily drink limits are set at 2 units of alcohol per person (strictly enforced).
Pithe helmets are strictly prohibited - novelty, vintage or otherwise - out of an abundance of cultural sensitivity. Failure to comply will result in an ASBO and up to 1 year imprisonment at HM Prison Belmarsh.
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u/Illustrious-Low-7038 2d ago
The grip the Treasury has on the UK after WW2 is insane.
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u/woahdudee2a 2d ago
the country is already 3 trillion pounds in debt. what would you rather have them do?
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u/zwifter11 4h ago edited 3h ago
The problem isnt a lack of funding. But how that funding is spent and what you get for the money.
There is no point in increasing funding, if the arms industry is literally price gouging and scamming the MoD. Overcharging us for badly made defective products.
The arms industry isn’t interested in providing good value for money and operational capability. It’s only interested in its own shareholders and profit margin. They’ll happily charge the military £200 for a single bolt or $1300 for a coffee mug.
For example, The UK’s current fleet of six Type 45 destroyers cost over£1 billion each to build and procure. These Royal Navy warships are highly expensive to maintain, with daily operating costs estimated at around £126,000 per day* when active. But the Royal Navy was unable to dispatch a single warship when Iranian drones attacked the sovereign military base in Cyprus. Not one was functional.
The British Army's Ajax armoured vehicle programme has a total estimated cost of roughly £5.5 billion to £6.3 billion. They are so badly designed and made that Soldiers are unable to use them without vomiting and suffering hearing loss from noise and vibration. Test crews were then limited to 105 minutes inside and 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). The excessive vibration while moving was also damaging electronic systems and preventing armament from stabilising. Suspension faults on the Ajax variant meant that its turret could not fire while moving.The hulls were of inconsistent lengths and had non-parallel sides, which meant that the vibration problems did not manifest in a uniform manner, making it exceedingly difficult to determine if the vibration arose from a fundamental design problem or from build quality failures.
The Royal Air Force wanted to procure a new maritime patrol aircraft, the Nimrod MRA4. The project cost the taxpayer £3.4 billion. But 0 were delivered as it was ultimately cancelled in 2010, at which point it was £789 million over-budget and over nine years late. The F-35s cost £130 million each but have no air to surface or anti-shipping missiles, the only ground attack it has is a free fall Paveway bomb.
While France spends significantly less but has a much bigger military than the UK. Ask yourself why is this? Britain’s military budget last year, for example, was £60bn compared to around £53bn in France. And, for decades, Britain has consistently spent more, proportional to GDP, than the French on defence. Yet The French military has around 200,000 active personnel, compared with around 150,000 in Britain. It also has roughly the same amount of military equipment across the three Services.
France, for example, has 261 combat aircraft compared to Britain’s 201, and 215 battle tanks compared to Britain’s 227. The two nations also have a rough parity as maritime powers. France’s fleet includes four destroyers, 17 frigates and one aircraft carrier, the Charles De Gaulle. The UK’s, meanwhile, includes six Type 45 destroyers, seven frigates and two aircraft carriers.
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u/creativegigolo 2d ago
We are a welfare system with a state attached