A Balanced Budget - The Ministry of Defence has published details of how it will equip the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force over the next 10 years and how this will be funded.     For the first time the Government has set out a fully funded Defence Equipment Plan totalling almost £160 billion.     The publication of the equipment plan follows the Defence Secretary’s announcement last year that the Defence Budget has been balanced for the first time in more than a decade and that the MoD is taking a new approach to financial planning.   Within the equipment and equipment support budget for the first time a contingency of £4.8 billion exists to manage cost variation and protect existing projects.     In addition, within the £160 billion, £8 billion is currently unallocated and will be allocated as new equipment priorities emerge.   The equipment plan includes the following major investments in military capabilities and their support over the next ten years:

·         £35.8 billion on submarines and the nuclear deterrent, including a total of seven (7)  ASTUTE Class Attack Submarines, and developing a replacement for VANGUARD Class Ballistic Missile Submarines.

•       £17.4 billion on ships, including the QUEEN ELIZABETH Class Aircraft Carriers, six (6) new Type 45 Destroyers and the development of the Type 26 Global Combat Ship.

•       £18.5 billion on combat air power, including LIGHTNING II and TYPHOON fast jets and unmanned aerial vehicles.

•       £13.9 billion on aircraft for air-to-air refuelling, passengers and heavy lift, such as VOYAGER and Airbus A400M.

•       £12.3 billion on armoured fighting vehicles, including WARRIOR, SCOUT and other land equipment.

•       £12.1 billion on helicopters, including CHINOOK, APACHE, PUMA and WILDCAT.

•       £11.4 billion on weapons, including, for example, missiles, torpedoes and precision guided bombs.

 In the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, special forces were spared cutbacks which overall saw the defence budget fall by around 7.7% cent to around £33.5billion a year between 2010-11 and 2014-2015.    The about listing of the “Equipment Plan” tells us nothing new in terms of new equipment but the Prime Minister has suggested that totals would be increased “year on year” from 2015, following the next Whitehall spending review, but the Defence Secretary, later said the increase would apply only to equipment.

The Chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee (Margaret Hodge MP), recalled that major MoD projects had previously cost 40 per cent more than originally anticipated stating "The Ministry's track record in forecasting accurately the cost of its largest projects hardly inspires confidence,"  and went on to say "Given this past performance, I am dismayed that the Ministry is still taking an over-optimistic view to putting a price on risk and uncertainty.   "The ministry's own internal review warned that this plan understates costs by as much as £12.5bn. If this proves to be the case, it will eat up the entire £8bn unallocated budget that is viewed by the Chief of the Defence Staff as necessary to deliver the full intent behind the future shape of the armed forces."

The Shadow Defence Secretary (Jim Murphy MP) said the report confirmed his fears. "Philip Hammond has failed his own test of balancing the MOD books," he said. "This supposed 'mission accomplished' fact is more like a 'wishful thinking' claim.    "The government has not provided a full list of equipment that is accounted for. The financial baseline against which projections are made is unknown. This report covers less than half of defence expenditure. The government's claims don't add up."

This observer cannot help but ask what is the difference between a balanced budget (a much used phrase) and any other form of budget ? ....... unless it is fully funded and in many ways we are no further forward that we were before.

Dunkirk ‘Little Ship’ SKYLARK IX, - the Northern Diving Group helped to raise a Dunkirk ‘little ship’ SKYLARK IX from a Scottish river bed.   The team took part in a two-day operation to lift the SKYLARK IX which in 1940 was responsible for bringing home 600 men from the continent.   Although the water is only about five feet deep, it took a two-day operation involving the diving group and special buoyancy bags to finally lift the 30-ton boat out of the river.     The divers from Faslane volunteered to help enthusiasts raise the 50ft pleasure cruiser which had settled on the bed of the River Leven at the southern end of Loch Lomond.   In 1940, the small cruiser had been pressed into service by the Royal Navy and used to bolster the defences of Poole Harbour.   Once lifted, the boat was beached and the plan now is to restore her, giving local young people the chance to learn boat-building skills in the process.

AMBUSH Challenges WESTMINSTER – The new Fleet Submarine AMBUSH has exercised with the Type 23 Frigate WESTMINSTER in the latest stage of the submarine’s trials, including speed runs on and below the surface.      The AMBUSH is the second of the ASTUTE Class submarines, having left builders BAE Barrow last autumn (2012), at the beginning of the long road to operational service.   The WESTMINSTER is the ‘capital ship’ and the lead anti-submarine warfare frigate, under the command of the Captain Anti-Submarine Warfare.

The QUEEN ELIZABETH’s Bow – the 400 tonne bulbous bow section of the Royal Navy’s future Aircraft Carrier QUEEN ELIZABETH has been lifted into place - the section is (about) 100ft long, 35ft wide and more than 30ft in height,     The 65,000 tonne carrier, due to be launched next year, is nearing completion – outwardly at least – in Dock No.1 (a dry dock) at Rosyth.    The bow section was built by a 300 strong team at the Babcock yard at Appledore (North Devon) and was moved by barge up to Scotland.    There will be 3,500 compartments in the completed Carrier – some, such as the bakery, and most of the accommodation cabins are finished (although there’s no power to them), others are still in various stages of completion.     Captain Simon Petitt in onboard as the Senior Naval Officer, and is in charge of a 17strong ship’s company at present.      The next milestone in the QUEEN ELIZABETH project will be to move the forward island – containing the bridge, captain’s day quarters and other compartments – from Portsmouth to Rosyth, weather permitting due to take place shortly.

Tomorrow's World – an MoD press release illustrates what we have all been waiting for a Future Royal Navy Carrier Battle Group at sea.   The Carrier Battle Group is made of the Aircraft Carrier QUEEN ELIZABETH accompanied by two Type 45 Destroyers, and an Astute Class Submarine plus a TIDE Class RFA Fleet Tanker.   In what might be a prophetic illustration the decks of the Carrier QUEEN ELIZABETH are devoid of any aircraft, with not even a helicopter in sight in the illustration.

Special Forces Cut Back – This observer felt confident that whilst traditional forces were being cut back by the Coalition Government’s SDSR 2010 the one area that faced no such reductions and indeed with the application of intelligent warfare where expansion was in prospect.      Not so apparently with the reports that the support network for Britain’s special forces is facing major cutbacks with around 600 posts earmarked to be lost in a reorganisation to coincide with the military pull out from Afghanistan.     The controversial move could become necessary because the campaign had seen a build up of support and logistics to enable elite squads to carry out their operations which would no longer be necessary.    The proposals, drawn up at the Ministry of Defence, do not affect the fighting troops of the Special Air Service or the Special Boat Service directly however 156 posts are expected to be lost from the Special Forces Support Group, which provides infantry and specialised support to both the SAS and SBS.       The rest of the 600 posts are from units providing vehicles, signals, logistics and intelligence — the key “enablers” which allow elite troops to operate.    Foolish one would think with events in West Africa unfolding day by day.

Sources said the cuts proposed to special forces support were “an option being considered by the military” because certain roles would not be needed after the withdrawal of British Troops from Afghanistan, scheduled to take place by the end of 2014.      The Government never comments officially on the special forces, whose total numbers are thought to be about 2,000.    

Sealift Refits – The A&P Tyne shipyard has completed two refit operations for Andrew Weir Shipmanagement managed the 22,235 grt Ro/Ro cargo vessels, which are on charter to the UK Ministry of Defence.     The two ships involved are the LONGSTONE and BEACHY HEAD.   The same shipyard also completed the drydocking of the 2,983 grt Fishery Research Vessel CEFAS ENDEAVOUR which is managed by P&O Maritime Services.