The UK needs to pivot away from reliance in the US. Further purchasing of F-35s is exactly what we should not be doing. I also think much of the SDR needs to be re-written as it is still too focussed on maintaining US reliance in my opinion. Given the financial and programme debacles surrounding many defence projects I would want confidence that they are going to significantly improve UK resilience and provide VFM before increasing defence spending. Handing over large sums of money to US defence contractors for weapons that we might not be able to use doesn't improve our defences.
One of the best contributions the UK could make would be to help mitigate the waning reliability of the US nuclear umbrella. Its recent participation in US nuclear sharing does not of course do much in that direction, since UK deployment of US tactical nuclear weapons on its jets is under the control of the US. If the UK reacquired its own nuclear gravity bombs it could operate a UK version of the current French "forward deterrence" and/or nuclear-sharing with other NATO allies. This would be an ideal combination of UK specialisation with UK cooperation with France and with non-nuclear allies. This is a point I shall make in an upcoming blog.
Brexit was not the factor for the UKs defence as we wanted to remain as an important member of NATO, not within a Brussels controlled environment. NATO is the key for standardisation, not the EU. The UK has failed to invest in expanding and maintaining its few remaining capabilities and the ability to deploy sufficient forces at short notice, of any size or worth. Political agreements with the EU are hollow without capacity to achieve much. The UK, unlike other EU members and European NATO members, still choses to look beyond the regional theatre of operations and cannot support much when reductions in legacy systems, and the lack of real investment continues. Words are no defence and the current UK government uses words without much valued substance.
The UK needs to pivot away from reliance in the US. Further purchasing of F-35s is exactly what we should not be doing. I also think much of the SDR needs to be re-written as it is still too focussed on maintaining US reliance in my opinion. Given the financial and programme debacles surrounding many defence projects I would want confidence that they are going to significantly improve UK resilience and provide VFM before increasing defence spending. Handing over large sums of money to US defence contractors for weapons that we might not be able to use doesn't improve our defences.
One of the best contributions the UK could make would be to help mitigate the waning reliability of the US nuclear umbrella. Its recent participation in US nuclear sharing does not of course do much in that direction, since UK deployment of US tactical nuclear weapons on its jets is under the control of the US. If the UK reacquired its own nuclear gravity bombs it could operate a UK version of the current French "forward deterrence" and/or nuclear-sharing with other NATO allies. This would be an ideal combination of UK specialisation with UK cooperation with France and with non-nuclear allies. This is a point I shall make in an upcoming blog.
Brexit was not the factor for the UKs defence as we wanted to remain as an important member of NATO, not within a Brussels controlled environment. NATO is the key for standardisation, not the EU. The UK has failed to invest in expanding and maintaining its few remaining capabilities and the ability to deploy sufficient forces at short notice, of any size or worth. Political agreements with the EU are hollow without capacity to achieve much. The UK, unlike other EU members and European NATO members, still choses to look beyond the regional theatre of operations and cannot support much when reductions in legacy systems, and the lack of real investment continues. Words are no defence and the current UK government uses words without much valued substance.