This week is the start of Ramadan, the most holy month in the Muslim calendar. Throughout the month, Muslims are required to fast from sunrise to sunset. The only Muslim Chaplain to the Armed Forces explains how Muslim service personnel cope. BritishForcesNews reports (05 Aug).
MPs are warning that cuts to the armed forces may leave them unable to deliver what is asked of them after 2015. In a toughly-worded report, the Defence Select Committee says it rejects the Prime Minister's assurance that Britain retains a "full spectrum" defence capability, and warns that without firm commitments to improved funding in the very near future, Britain's politicians risk "failing" the country's military. BritishForcesNews reports (03 Aug).
The local staff safety issue has been coming up again lately, with new reporting by The Times's Deborah Haynes. BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat says that hundreds of Afghan interpreters are worried they'll be killed after British forces leave Afghanistan -
The Telegraph reports that Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, is facing new calls to reopen the Coalition's controversial defence review and restore military capabilities axed to save money:
Fifty senior former military commanders, experts, campaigners and politicians have backed an open letter calling on ministers to rethink cuts to Britain's naval and air power.
The Strategic Defence and Security Review last year made cuts that will leave Britain without a working aircraft carrier until 2020, scrapping HMS Ark Royal and all of Britain's Harrier jump jets.
Recent turmoil in Libya has focused attention on those decisions, and ministers are under mounting pressure to revisit the some of the SDSR's cuts.
Some Whitehall officials believe David Cameron will be forced to "review the review" within months.
Dr Fox has insisted that he has no choice but to make deep cuts, blaming a financial deficit he inherited from Labour. New cuts are expected within weeks.
"We accept the need for savings to be made in the defence budget," the commanders' letter says. "However, the Strategic Defence and Security Review seems to have been driven by financial rather than military considerations."
Highlighting recent events in north Africa and the Middle East, the signatories conclude: "The security landscape has radically changed and some of the assumptions on which the review was based should be reconsidered."
The signatories to the letter include General Sir Michael Rose, a former SAS chief who commanded United Nations Forces in Bosnia during the 1990s.
Other signatories include two former RAF chiefs, Sir Michael Graydon and Sir Peter Squire.
Among the military experts supporting the letter was Michael Codner, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute.
Dr Fox rejected the criticism of the review, insisting that ministers had no choice but to cut defence spending.
"Difficult decisions had to be made to get the defence budget onto a stable footing after Labour left the MoD with a £38bn black hole. The previous Government failed to have a defence review for 12 years and presided over financial mismanagement where the MoD were spending more than its budget," he said,
"The SDSR has allowed us to reshape the Armed Forces to face future threats, making our military more adaptable and flexible in the future.
"We have the fourth largest military budget in the world and are investing in modern cutting edge equipment such as the Joint Strike Fighter, new submarines and new Aircraft carriers."
- Source article, by James Kirkup, Political Correspondent: Former military chiefs call on Liam Fox to reconsider cuts to Armed Forces
- Telegraph.co.uk - Defence news and UK military news
Interviewed this morning, Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey acknowledged that defence personnel were being "worked harder", but he rejected the Defence Committee's claims that cuts will affect the military's capability to fulfil its tasks.
The cross-party House of Commons Defence Committee has issued a hard-hitting report following its inquiry into the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) and the National Security Strategy. In the report's 46 conclusions and recommendations -
The Independent on Sunday reports that James Blunt, the award-winning singer and former Life Guards officer, has "run into trouble" with military top brass after he complained about "gross incompetence" in the Royal Air Force. RAF chiefs have protested that they were not "helping to lose the war" in Afghanistan, after Blunt criticised the transport delays that forced the cancellation of his "morale-boosting" trip to entertain British troops in the country. The aircraft involved was not an RAF aircraft, although that factor tends to be of little interest to stranded passengers.
Parliament's Defence Select Committee has now warned that the imposition of defence cuts while British forces are still engaged in operations in Afghanistan could mean the remaining servicemen and women having to deploy for an extra three months. The Daily Mail reports that:
In a meticulous search after receiving information from a local, South Korean soldiers have unearthed human remains which could be those of a member of the Gloucestershire regiment who fought in the Imjin battle in 1951.
Amid the speculation and debate about the the findings of the Future Reserves 2020 Study (FR20), this is a message from the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Houghton.
To what extent should human rights laws apply to British forces personnel when deployed on operations overseas?
Review: Sean Rayment on Losing Small Wars by Frank Ledwidge, "an account of why Britain fared so badly in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan":
Despite earlier complaints by Ministry of Defence media staff that speculation about closures had been distressing families and putting lives at risk by distracting soldiers on operations, there has been increasing discussion about Army units being cut more quickly than previously expected. The Daily Telegraph now reports that:
Defence Secretary Liam Fox has announced a £1.5 billion investment in UK reserve forces over the next 10 years as part of a wide-ranging shake-up of the UK's military. Dr Fox told MPs that the Territorial Army would form around 30% of a 120,000-strong Army by 2020. In a statement to MPs Dr Fox announced major changes in the basing of forces, with RAF installations set to be taken over by Army units returning from Germany. BritishForcesNews reports (18.07.2011).
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The Welsh Affairs Committee of the House of Commons has announced a new inquiry into support for armed forces veterans and their families in Wales. The Committee has asked for written submissions by Monday 12 September. BAFF members and supporters who have something to contribute to the inquiry are encouraged to submit their own submissions - BAFF assistance available on request. If there are issues on which you would like BAFF itself to submit written evidence, please contact us as soon as possible.
The full report of the Future Reserves 2020 study (FR20) is now available at the following MoD link:
A critical report by the House of Commons Defence Committee, published today (Sunday), questions the coalition government's plan to remove troops by 2015, saying such a decision should be based on circumstances, not artificial deadlines. And it says the shortfall in troop numbers and the poor state of equipment they were given on deployment in Helmand in 2006 was "unacceptable". BAFF comment:
In the latest speculation about the imminent release of the FR20 study (now expected on Monday) it is reported that thousands of regular soldiers could be sacked to boost the role of the Territorial Army. Former Labour defence minister Kevan Jones MP says that “Major changes are gong to cost money. Without that, the report will simply sit on a shelf.” The British Armed Forces Federation, which includes reservists as well as regular and retired forces personnel amongst its membership, pointed out in a recent radio interview that any defence capabilities transferred to the reserves must be adequately funded, genuinely usable and "not mere window dressing" - otherwise they must remain with the regular forces. From the Daily Telegraph:
'Inside Housing' reports that a local authority has pledged to give members of the armed forces priority access to social housing and has set aside 15 homes:
Following the 2005 General Election, Silence in the Ranks identified "the UK's tight electoral timetable" as an important factor in the effective disenfranchisement of many members of the armed forces community, whether their postal votes failed to arrive in time or whether they did not even attempt to vote, out of lack of confdence in the system.
It is reported that Defence Secretary Liam Fox has ended speculation that the Royal Air Force could be merged with the other armed services. From Virginia-based journal, DefenseNews:
Lt Gen (retd) Sir Graeme Lamb, Former Commander of the Field Army and a key member of the team which carried out the Future Reserves 2020 (FR20) Study, writes in the Daily Telegraph (13 Jul) that the The balance between regulars and reserves in our Armed Forces should be rethought:
The British Armed Forces Federation (BAFF) aims to operate as a professional staff association. It is not, and does not aim to be, a military trade union.
In its final issue after 168 years, the News of the World reports that HMS Liverpool has made the Royal Navy's first use of main armament gunnery since the Falklands Campaign:
Last year we followed the story that that women might be allowed to serve aboard RN submarines for the first time. The Sunday Mirror now reports that: