Defence News

Defence News: 18 June 2013

Army personnel informed of redundancies
Afghans take security lead across Afghanistan
Allied Rapid Reaction Corps personnel learn valuable lessons in Corsica exercise

Defence in the Media: 18 June 2013

Summary
Various media report that more than £3.5 million has been paid in compensation to Afghan civilians for incidents ranging from deaths to crop damage. | Various papers report that President Hamid Karzai has announced that Afghanistan's armed forces are taking over the lead for security nationwide from the US-led NATO coalition. | Various papers report on 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland's homecoming parade in Dumfries yesterday. | The Daily Mail reports that an expanding foam that is pumped into the bodies of wounded soldiers to stop them bleeding to death could save the lives of thousands of troops on the battlefield. | The Telegraph has published an article looking at the killing of 6 members of the Royal Military Police in Iraq in 2004, including quotes from the families of those killed. | The Daily Mirror reports that David Cameron has pledged to investigate the plight of soldier Paul Biddiss who is being evicted from his army home along with his severely disabled son. | The Sun reports that ministers yesterday backed calls for airlines to give preferential treatment to Service personnel. | Various media report that hundreds of Arctic convoy veterans will finally receive a Russian bravery medal after the government decided to let them wear the decoration.

Defence Secretary's comments in the Telegraph on the Afghan mission
The Telegraph has published clarification of the Defence Secretary's description of the Afghan mission given in an interview with the paper last week:

"In our interview with Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, published on Saturday, the front page headline stated that he had described Afghanistan as 'our Vietnam'. In fact, when referring to the public's reluctance to contemplate future enduring engagements, he said 'you might call it the Vietnam phenomenon'. We are happy to make this clear."

Following a trip with the Defence Secretary to Afghanistan, Saturday's Daily Telegraph led with the headline 'Philip Hammond: Afghanistan is like our Vietnam'.

Although the content of the story is accurate, the headline is misleading. The Defence Secretary did not compare the British campaign in Afghanistan with Vietnam, but used Vietnam as an example of the effect a long military engagement can have on the public mood and the public's reluctance to contemplate future enduring engagements.

The Defence Secretary was speaking of the military and political lessons learned from the UK's engagement in Afghanistan and emphasised the benefits of early intervention in fragile areas.

He said: "I suspect that the British people… will be wary of enduring engagements on this kind of scale for perhaps quite a long while in the future. This is not a new phenomenon - you might call it the Vietnam phenomenon; when an engagement turns out to be longer and more costly than originally envisaged there is often a public reaction to that.

"I think we ourselves would learn the lesson that earlier, smaller-scale intervention may often avoid the need for a more massive intervention later… And certainly I think the lesson now in other theatres, which we apply all the time, is that we need to be thinking 3 moves ahead in the chess game and trying to intervene when we can intervene with hundreds to build capacity, to prevent conflict, to snuff out early signs of terrorists taking hold of a piece of ground rather than needing to do it later with mass force."

Image of the Day: 18 June 2013

Soldiers from 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland recreate the famous Second World War photograph 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima' at the top of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh to promote this year's Armed Forces Day on Saturday 29 June. The original photograph taken on 23 February 1945 by Joe Rosenthal depicts 5 US Marines and a US Navy corpsman raising the US flag on top of Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. [Picture: Mark Owens, Crown copyright]

Defence Diary: 18 June 2013

Today, Tuesday 18 June
198th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
Inter Services Twenty20 Cricket Tournament, Lord's.
Undersea Defence Technology Conference, Hamburg (until 20 June).
Royal United Services Institute Founder's Day Lecture - The Battle of Waterloo: The Human Face of Grand Strategy.
Chatham House members' event: Iran After Ahmadinejad.
TV programme of interest: 'Animal Heroes', ITV1, 2000hrs - goes behind the scenes at the Royal Army Veterinary Corps which is responsible for the welfare and development of animals working in the British Armed Forces (episode 3 of 3).

Tomorrow, Wednesday 19 June
Defence Vehicle Dynamics Exhibition 2013, Millbrook, Bedfordshire (and 20 June).

Thursday 20 June
Chatham House event - UK-Japan Global Seminar: Fostering Strategic Partnerships (and 21 June).
Legatum Institute lecture - 'Promise of Freedom' series: The Art of Peace and War 1953-2013.

Friday 21 June
Royal United Services Institute event: China's Role in Afghanistan Post-2014.

Saturday 22 June
Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces regimental commemoration service, National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas.
158 Transport Regiment parade, Leicester.
150 Transport Regiment freedom parade, Hull.
3rd Battalion The Rifles freedom parade, Leeds.
Preston Military Show, Fulwood Barracks, Preston.

Sunday 23 June
Help for Heroes gala concert, 'West End Heroes', Dominion Theatre, London.

Monday 24 June
Armed Forces Community Covenant signing, Isle of Wight and Southampton.
Haywood Club event - Headlines and Deadlines; the media, the military and medicine, Medical Society of London.
Lord Mayor's Annual Defence and Security Lecture, Mansion House, London.

Tuesday 25 June
5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland farewell parade, Canterbury.
Chatham House members' event: Muslim Tribes and the War on Terror.

Defence News: 17 June 2013

Armed Forces mark Her Majesty's birthday
Father and son in Afghanistan
Relocation of UK military HQ in Afghanistan
2013: Birthday Honours for Service personnel and Defence civilians
Armed Forces Day aerial spectacular

Defence in the Media: 17 June 2013

Summary
On Saturday, The Times published an interview with former Prime Minister Tony Blair where he urged that 'a more interventionist line' is needed to hasten the downfall of President Assad's regime in Syria. | The Sun commented on the Chief Secretary to the Treasury wanting to further slash the Defence Budget by reducing the number of horses in MOD. | There has been widespread coverage of the Prime Minister's comments that there will be no manpower cuts to the Armed Forces as part of the coming Spending Review. | Various media reported that a Royal Marine who was injured in a road accident in Afghanistan is in line for a multi-million-pound damages payout from MOD. | The Daily Mail commented on the knighthood for services to the arts awarded to Conservative Party donor Michael Hintze. Former Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox is mentioned in the article because Mr Hintze contributed £100,000 to his Atlantic Bridge charity. | The Independent on Sunday reported that David Cameron will support US plans to impose a no-fly zone over parts of Syria. | Ahead of the Army redundancy notifications tomorrow there has been extensive speculation on where the cuts will be. | The Sun reported that companies are being urged to hire injured former soldiers to pay them back for serving their country. | There was widespread coverage of  the passenger jet travelling from Cairo to New York having to be intercepted and escorted to Prestwick Airport by RAF Typhoons after a suspicious note was found onboard. | The Sunday Times reported that up to 3,000 surface-to-air missiles have gone missing in Libya and could fall into the hands of Al-Qaeda-linked groups. | Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Afghan Army will take over security for the country in the coming days, quoting coalition commander General Joseph Dunford as saying that the 'sustainability of the Afghan security forces is his number one priority'. | The Sun calls British airlines petty and mean-spirited for not offering preferential boarding to Armed Forces personnel. | Various papers report that 5 passengers from the plane diverted to Britain over an apparent threat to destroy it are seeking asylum here. The EgyptAir jet made an emergency landing in Glasgow on Saturday. | Various papers report that 2 bodies were pulled from the sea off the Welsh coast yesterday after an overnight search for a pair of missing climbers which involved a helicopter from RAF Valley. | The Daily Mirror reports that servicemen and women cannot claim compensation if they were exposed to asbestos before 1987, when crown immunity for claims was lifted. | The Telegraph reports that Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has publicly ruled out a reduction in Britain's nuclear deterrent. The newspaper says Mr Hammond would reject 'reckless' Liberal Democrat demands for 2 of Britain's Vanguard submarines to be scrapped. | The Daily Mirror reports that a former paratrooper who has a severely disabled son is being evicted from his specially-adapted army home.

Royal Marines in Jordan
Several of this weekend's newspapers reported that Royal Marines have been sent to Jordan in response to the ongoing conflict in Syria. This is not correct.

Jordan is a close ally of the UK; we enjoy excellent bilateral relations and co-operate closely on a number of issues including regular military training exercises. The UK has 130 personnel participating in Eager Lion 13, the Jordanian-led multilateral exercise, but this is a regular annual event and not in connection with, or in response to, events in the region.

Royal Marines will be conducting field events in southern Jordan, while other UK staff will work with the Jordanian Armed Forces to plan and execute joint operational exercises.

Senior officer privileges
The Mail on Sunday this weekend reported criticisms from an individual that senior officers enjoyed too many privileges, particularly with regard to their accommodation.

We firmly believe that all ranks, both military and civilian, must share the burden of efficiency savings. That is why, following changes made in 2011, we have already saved £2.5 million a year on official hospitality given to senior officers and a further £3 million a year from discontinuing the provision of official service residences.

Changes announced a year ago will also see further reductions made to accommodation for senior officers. This includes the release of Bulford Manor in Wiltshire, an apartment at Kensington Palace and Admiralty House in Northwood, while the Chief of the Air Staff will move from his residence in London to occupy the vacated Commander-in-Chief's residence at High Wycombe. In total this will produce a saving of around £202,000 a year.

Image of the Day: 17 June 2013

More than a thousand soldiers and horses from the Household Division marched in front of their Colonel-in-Chief, Her Majesty The Queen, on Saturday, 15 June, as part of the Trooping the Colour parade to mark the Queen's official birthday. Pictured here, musicians from the Massed Bands and Corps of Drums of the Household Divison march and play as one at Horse Guards Parade in London. [Picture: Corporal Paul Shaw RLC, Crown copyright]

Defence Diary: 17 June 2013

Today, Monday 17 June
1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland homecoming parade, Dumfries.
50th International Paris Air Show (until 23 June).

Tomorrow, Tuesday 18 June
198th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
Inter Services Twenty20 Cricket Tournament, Lord's.
Undersea Defence Technology Conference, Hamburg (until 20 June).
Royal United Services Institute Founder's Day Lecture - The Battle of Waterloo: The Human Face of Grand Strategy.
Chatham House members' event: Iran After Ahmadinejad.
TV programme of interest: 'Animal Heroes', ITV1, 2000hrs - goes behind the scenes at the Royal Army Veterinary Corps which is responsible for the welfare and development of animals working in the British Armed Forces (episode 3 of 3).

Wednesday 19 June
Defence Vehicle Dynamics Exhibition 2013, Millbrook, Bedfordshire (and 20 June).

Thursday 20 June
Chatham House event - UK-Japan Global Seminar: Fostering Strategic Partnerships (and 21 June).
Legatum Institute lecture - 'Promise of Freedom' series: The Art of Peace and War 1953-2013.

Friday 21 June
Royal United Services Institute event: China's Role in Afghanistan Post-2014.

Saturday 22 June
Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces regimental commemoration service, National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas.
158 Transport Regiment parade, Leicester.
150 Transport Regiment freedom parade, Hull.
3rd Battalion The Rifles freedom parade, Leeds.
Preston Military Show, Fulwood Barracks, Preston.

Sunday 23 June
Help for Heroes gala concert, 'West End Heroes', Dominion Theatre, London. 

Monday 24 June
Armed Forces Community Covenant signing, Isle of Wight and Southampton.
Haywood Club event - Headlines and Deadlines; the media, the military and medicine, Medical Society of London.
Lord Mayor's Annual Defence and Security Lecture, Mansion House, London.

Defence News: 14 June 2013

RAF Tornado Squadron prepares for Afghanistan
Online support for the Armed Forces community
First pilots complete new fast jet training

Defence in the Media: 14 June 2013

Summary
The Daily Express reports that Lance Corporal Lawrence Kayser, who single-handedly fought Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan received the military cross at a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace yesterday. | The Telegraph has published a feature piece on a day in the life of Sergeant Kate Willoughby, a member of the Merlin helicopter aircrew based at RAF Benson on her career in the RAF. | The Times reports that Northern districts of Helmand province are at serious risk of falling to the Taliban as Western Forces withdraw.

Afghanistan and the future of the Armed Forces
Sky News broadcast their Jeff Randall report about Afghanistan and the future of the Armed Forces. Part of the programme focused on cuts to the Armed Forces alongside the Army's ability to recruit and retain enough reservists to complement a regular force of 82,000. In the piece, a number of reservists were seen to question whether or not it would work in practical terms with civilian employers. Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Peter Wall, was interviewed as part of the programme. Here are him comments in full, not all of which were broadcast:

Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Peter Wall, said:

"I think it's absolutely imperative on us as a nation to get the most out of all of the aspects of military capability that we can muster and in this country our ambition to use the reserve is considerably less than in the case of nations like the United States of America, who, despite their scale and economic mind still depend very heavily on reservists. We are about to embark on something that is novel for us, not in terms of the size of the reserve, but the extent to which we're going to integrate it into the regular army and the dependence we're going to place on it on a predictive basis for an assured contribution to our full structure. In the time I've been in the army the reserve's been as large as 100,000, admittedly in the context of the Cold War and potential war of national survival.

"So the raw numbers are not what worries me, it's a question of us striking the right relationship with employers, the private sector and public sector, getting them to buy into the benefits to them of having those sorts of people who are prepared to serve the country, who are prepared to conform to our ethos and to do that in a way where there's a mutual benefit that doesn't stretch the prospects for the individual out of shape and allows us to get the most out of this very special resource. And indeed in some areas there will be reservists who can bring in capabilities that we couldn't hope to maintain in a peacetime army. Take for example things like cyber activity.

"I think it is inevitably a bit of a voyage of discovery going from where we are now with the 20,000 reserves that only contribute individuals to the regular force and we're going to the situation where it's going to contribute formed bodies, companies, squadrons, batteries, groupings of about 100 to 150 strong where there's a sort of collective commitment required. That I think is the most exacting part of all of this. We've got enough resource, we've got a new structural arrangement with a pairing relationship between the regular units in the army and their sort of Territorial Army reserve counterparts and I think the way in which the professionalism of that organisation develops over time is going to be the biggest challenge. But I do think we'll get there."