Armed Forces Cuts Attacked by Defence Chief - General Sir David Julian Richards, GCB, CBE, DSO, ADE Gen, the senior British Army officer, and currently the Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of the British Armed Forces has spoken!   General Sir David Richards says the Defence cuts have left the Armed Forces unable to carry out all the tasks that Ministers demand of them and highlighted that he was worried that the Royal Navy did not have enough warships to fulfill its orders properly, and warned that cuts in the number of officers would reduce Britain’s world influence.

In a public lecture, General Sir David Richards said that Ministers had cut the Armed Forces’ numbers and resources without reducing their demands for operations, and suggests that the situation was unsustainable.   The General was speaking in a lecture to Oxford University’s Department of Politics and International Relations and addressed about 70 students, academics and members of the public.

He made an interesting summary of the defence budget and in the Naval context said :-

·         The Navy has no working Aircraft Carrier

·         The surface fleet is based on six Destroyers and thirteen Frigates and was particularly worried about the size of the fleet and suggested that a shortage of ships meant resources were being allotted to the wrong tasks citing Operation Atalanta (Counter piracy in the Indian Ocean) where the military are forced to use the most advanced warships for relatively simple operations.

Presumably it is within the budget of General Sir David Richards to finance to cost of recommissioning the four Type 22 Frigates which are currently still awaiting disposal and the Fleet Tanker RFA FORT VICTORIA.   That will resolve the immediate problem relatively inexpensively.   The question of the working Aircraft Carrier could also be solved relatively inexpensively by buying back the HARRIER Jump Jets from the Americans for the same price they were sold for and operate them from the decks of the ILLUSTRIOUS and the soon to arrive  QUEEN ELIZABETH.    For a Government able to finesse a U-Turn over the pasty tax that should not be a impossible ask!