In the first of the cuts to be publicly announced as opposed to being the subject of speculation, Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox has confirmed in a written statement that the £14bn defence training academy project at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan have been scrapped. It is still hoped that some form of future defence training solution will be based at the South Wales site in the future. The full written statement is now available at the first link below:

The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) is operating off the Libyan coast as part of the Nato operation in support of UNSCR 1973. BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale got exclusive access on board the pride of the French navy:

The Westminster Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has published its report on the Armed Forces Bill, which raises "several significant human rights issues":

The Reading Post reports (27 Apr 2010) that Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Daisy Benson has joined forces with a service wife to campaign for fairer votes for forces personnel overseas.

Chapter 24 of the Nimrod Review report identifies a number of current weaknesses in the area of personnel in the MOD which have an impact on the effectiveness of the MOD Airworthiness regime.

“Safety is delivered by people, not paper” (Andrew Macfarlane, Nuclear Regulator, 2008)

“It takes a whole community to ensure that we get [Operational Safety, Suitability and

Effectiveness].” (A Fleet Chief Engineer, US Air Force, 2008)

Haddon-Cave makes Recommendations for a New Personnel Strategy. From page 560 of the report:

Summary

1. People deliver Airworthiness.

2. There are currently weaknesses in the area of personnel in the MOD, namely:

(1) Undervaluing and dilution of engineers and engineering skills.

(2) Engineers are not required to have professional status.

(3) Decline in the ability of the MOD to act as an “intelligent customer”.

(4) Turf wars and inter-service rivalries for jobs and roles.

(5) Short term two-year postings.

(6) Constant re-naming of posts.

(7) ‘Double-hatting’ and ‘gapping’.

(8) Lack of trained Safety Engineers.

(9) Selfishness, rewards and promotion for ‘change’.

(10) Shortage of manpower and skills fade.

3. There should be a New Personnel Strategy to address each of these weaknesses.

Army 44 - RN 10

Royal Navy scored first in a rivetting first half at Twickenham before the Army got into gear and scored seven tries winning back a year's bragging rights from the Royal Navy. Bola Boladua was Man of the Match.

In further entirely unofficial speculation about the SDSR outcome, The Guardian's defence correspondent outlines in today's paper the potential impact of cuts on the army, navy and RAF. Richard Norton-Taylor suggests that this includes:

'Social Housing Discrimination' update 23 Jun 2010: The Housing (Scotland) Bill has passed its first stage in the Scottish Parliament. Opening the debate for the Scottish Government, Alex Neil MSP said that the bill will, amongst other things, "remove the absurd anomaly under which our servicemen and women are unable to form a local connection in the areas in which they were based during their service in the armed forces to enable them to get on the housing list."  BAFF strongly supports this reform, which follows a similar change south of the border.

BBC News Defence Correspondent Caroline Wyatt says that amphibious forces have played a major role in British military operations for centuries. Now there are fears the Royal Navy could lose much of that capability, as the National Security Council meets to review the country's defence strategy.

Wyatt visited assault ship HMS Albion returning from an exercise in Scotland with young Royal Marine commandos aboard. She also interviewed the Commandant General of the Royal Marines and Commander Amphibious Forces, Maj Gen Buster Howes, as 40 Commando RM returned to the UK from Afghanistan on Wednesday.

The Sun reports that the premier rugby event of the year will take place at Twickenham this Saturday: