Defence News

Defence in the Media: 19 June 2013

Summary
Various papers report that President Hamid Karzai has suspended talks currently underway in Kabul on a bilateral security agreement with the US. | Various papers report that 4 American soldiers were killed in an attack on Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base yesterday. | Various media report that the Supreme Court is today due to rule on whether families of soldiers killed fighting in Iraq can bring damages claims against the government. | The Independent reports on what has been happening to Britain's military equipment in Afghanistan. | The Daily Mirror reports that there has been an alarming surge in Afghan civilian casualties since the beginning of the year; there are claims that the number of deaths has gone up by 30% compared with the same period last year. | The Guardian reports that a lawyer for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has accused the authorities in his country of showing a 'blatant disregard' for the International Criminal Court by announcing they will put him on trial in August. | The Telegraph reports that Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt has indicated that the UK is prepared to develop a new generation of 'killer robots' to protect troops on the battlefield. | The Daily Mirror reports that taxpayers face a bill of up to £2 million for the respraying of 150 Army Land Rovers lent to the Police Service of Northern Ireland for the duration of the G8 Summit. | The Financial Times reports that senior figures in MOD are said to have expressed growing confidence that the military will avoid further manpower cuts in next week's Spending Review. | The Daily Mail reports that the French defence budget is £6 billion less than the UK's, yet its armed forces have 72,000 more personnel, 51 more jets, a bigger naval fleet, 2,000 more armoured vehicles and a truly independent nuclear deterrent. | The Sun reports that Staff Sergeant Patrick Price has been convicted at a court martial for his part in the accidental shooting of Fusilier James Wilkinson. His conviction follows the earlier guilty plea of Corporal Colin Bell. Both men will be sentenced next month.

Army redundancies
Yesterday the Ministry of Defence announced that, in a third tranche of Army redundancies, 4,480 soldiers have been selected to be made redundant. Much of the coverage implies that a high application rate of 84% is a reflection of low morale within the Army, suggesting that soldiers were choosing to leave before being compulsorily removed.

Elsewhere, further coverage claims that reducing the Regular Army from 102,000 to 82,000 will leave the Armed Forces undermanned and unable to sustain operational capability. There has also been critical commentary suggesting the redundancy notifications were announced on the same day as 'Milestone 13'. This is inaccurate. The redundancy notification date was announced in January and was in no way deliberately conflated with the Afghan Government's announcement on the final stage of security transition.

The Defence Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday set out the reasons behind the redundancies, saying: "As we restructure the British Army to the size and configuration set out under the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, it is with great regret that we have had to make redundancies to deliver the reduction in the size of the Armed Forces, but unfortunately they were unavoidable due to the size of the defence deficit that this government inherited."

He added: "Although smaller, our Armed Forces will be more flexible and agile to reflect the challenges of the future with the protection and equipment they need. They will continue to be the bedrock of our society and provide extremely rewarding and exciting careers for future recruits."

The number of applications for redundancy should not be used as an indicator of morale due to the fact that the Army has deliberately set out to maximise applicants by offering a generous redundancy package and comprehensive resettlement support to assist personnel with the transition back into civilian life.

The Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Peter Wall, said yesterday: "This redundancy scheme is a difficult but essential step towards our Army 2020 structure. We owe our sincere gratitude to those leaving the Army for their service over such a demanding period of operations. We will support them and their families as best we can on their path to civilian life. Meanwhile we continue to need plenty of young and talented recruits to ensure the Army is fit to meet the challenges of the future."

In 2010 the Strategic Defence and Security Review was designed to provide a future force structure to meet the demands of current operations and future threats, as well as to ensure the Armed Forces will be manned appropriately to provide the required level of operational capability.

Although making personnel redundant, it is essential that the Army continues to recruit into its junior ranks every year to provide its future leaders. The Army needs to develop its own leaders; it cannot bring people from the outside into these leadership roles without the necessary military experience. Because of this, the Army needs to replace those who are promoted every year with new talent.

Finally, it should be noted that the civilian arm of Defence continues to play its part in finding efficiency savings. In 2013 the number of full-time equivalent civilian staff decreased from 83,000 as at 1 April 2010, to 63,080 as at 1 April 2013. This is a decrease of 19,920 (24%) since April 2010.

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."

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.

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."

Defence in the Media: 13 June 2013

Summary
Various papers report that a British soldier who single-handedly fought off enemy fighters in Afghanistan will be awarded the Military Cross at Buckingham Palace today. | Various papers report that the Prince of Wales will visit veterans and meet injured soldiers on his final day of engagements in Scotland. | A letter from Helen Mountfield QC, published in the Guardian, suggests that reforms to legal aid could engineer a situation where individuals such as Baha Mousa would no longer be able to bring  claims because they would not qualify for support on residency grounds. | The Daily Express has published a reader's letter which argues that UK ministers should not deny that the Germans started the First World War as it is an insult to veterans such as himself. | The Times reports that human rights groups are preparing legal proceedings in an attempt to force Britain to hold a public inquiry into 2 Pakistani men captured by the SAS in Iraq in 2004 and 'rendered' to an American jail in Afghanistan. | The Telegraph reports an inquest has heard that Royal Engineers soldier Lance Corporal Matthew Smith was killed by a sniper after having stopped a colleague climbing onto a roof where he was shot. | The Telegraph reports that the chairman of the Defence Police Federation Eamon Keating has said that any further cuts to the Ministry of Defence Police would seriously undermine the service's ability to protect armed forces personnel. | The Daily Express reports that serving soldiers have been told that taking part in any English Defence League activities could result in dismissal.

Defence in the Media: 12 June 2013

Summary
Various papers report that a suspected suicide car bomb killed at least 17 people and wounded dozens more in an attack aimed at Afghanistan's Supreme Court in Kabul. The Taliban were quick to claim they had carried out the blast and warned there would be more attacks. | The Telegraph reports that almost half of the trainees recruited by BAE Systems this year will join the defence giant's burgeoning cyber and security business, as companies look to protect themselves against increasing cyber threats. | The Guardian has published a letter signed by a range of peace campaigners which says the Drone Campaign Network will today deliver a petition, signed by 10,000 people calling on the UK Government to end the secrecy surrounding the use of British drones in Afghanistan. | The Telegraph reports that a Second World War airman who flew 10 missions over Germany in a Lancaster has had his application for a Bomber Command clasp turned down as he did not serve for long enough on an 'operational' unit. | The Telegraph has published the obituary of scientist Professor George Cray who worked with the MOD in the 1960s to develop liquid crystal displays.

Defence in the Media: 11 June 2013

Summary
Various papers report on the government's plans to mark the centenary of the First World War, with the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles saying that the commemorations 'must not be allowed to turn into an anti-German festival'. | Various media report that the Taliban have beheaded 2 boys they accused of spying in Kandahar. | The Financial Times reports that nearly half the graduates and trainees hired this year by BAE Systems will go into its cyber and security service business. | Various papers report that Sergeant Danny Nightingale, the SAS sniper facing retrial on gun charges, is to be medically discharged from the Army. | The Sun reports that Red Arrows pilot Ben Plank hit the wrong button during a display at an air show on Sunday at RAF Cosford, sending out blue smoke when it should have been red. | The Daily Mail reports that an inflatable boat carrying illegal immigrants to Britain from France sank in the middle of the English Channel yesterday morning. One person was airlifted by an RAF helicopter to Calais. | The Telegraph reports that the last surviving German bomber has been lifted off the bottom of the English Channel. | There is widespread coverage of the Defence Secretary's announcement yesterday that MOD may give up day-to-day management of the acquisition of military hardware and supplies in an attempt to cut procurement waste. | The Telegraph reports that Washington officials have indicated President Obama is considering arming the Syrian rebels, in a bid to end the 2-year civil war, following a key defeat for the rebels and a major split in the ranks of Al-Qaeda-aligned jihadists.

Defence in the Media: 10 June 2013

Summary
On Saturday, the Telegraph reported that Lance Corporal Stephen Shaw of the Royal Army Medical Corps has been presented with his Military Cross at Buckingham Palace for tending to colleagues after they were ambushed by a rogue Afghan policeman. | The Guardian reported that a student who tweeted that anyone wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt should be beheaded, hours after Drummer Lee Rigby was killed in Woolwich, has been spared jail. | The Times reported that a 'surge in anti-Islamic sentiment' among members of the Armed Forces has prompted concerns over links to right-wing groups such as the English Defence League and the British National Party. | The Guardian reported that the use of remotely-piloted drones may be in contravention of international law according to a legal opinion written by Public Interest Lawyers. | The Independent reported that Normandy veterans have launched a project to capture filmed interviews of accounts of the landings. | The Daily Mirror reported that Equalities Minister Helen Grant has been embarrassed after her son, a Royal Marines commando, used words such as 'faggot' and 'bitch' on his Facebook page. | On Sunday, The People reported that Lieutenant General John Lorimer will be sent to Afghanistan to oversee the withdrawal of British troops by 2015 amid fears of increasing Taliban attacks on departing troops. | Various papers reported that 3 American troop instructors were killed on Saturday in the latest of a series of 'green on blue' attacks in Afghanistan when a man in Afghan Army uniform opened fire on them. | The Sun reported that lawyers stand accused of using taxpayers' cash for moves that may free Taliban fighters. Up to 90 Afghans held at Camp Bastion are to be handed over to their country's authorities after Public Interest Lawyers complained about the number being detained by British forces. | The Sunday Times reported that former US Marines Colonel Gary Anderson has warned that Afghan soldiers will be massacred by the Taliban if they are left to fend for themselves without US helicopter support. | The Sunday Times also reported that a British soldier has been fined for abusing a child in Afghanistan and another has had his rank reduced for racially abusing an Afghan man. | The Sunday Express reported that former Conservative Defence Minister Sir Gerald Howarth has called for a clampdown on soldiers brandishing weapons in English Defence League propaganda photographs. | The Sunday Times magazine carried a feature piece on life in the Territorial Army (TA) following interviews with reservists on their reasons for joining the TA. | The Sunday Telegraph reported that the Queen is due to lead the nation in commemorating the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War at a service in Glasgow Cathedral on 4 August next year. | The Observer reported that music is to be prescribed as therapy for soldiers suffering from the physical or mental effects of war in a new initiative to be implemented across the Armed Forces. | The Sunday Express reported that a former senior Royal Navy officer has disclosed that British troops have had their email communications intercepted by US intelligence agencies since 2002. | Various papers reported that Prince Harry intervened to stop a soldier under his command being beaten up in a homophobic attack, according to a new book by Lance Corporal James Wharton. | Today, the Guardian reports that the Afghan President Hamid Karzai has demanded the return of Afghans held prisoner by the UK military in Helmand, giving London a two-week deadline that is legally impossible for the government to meet. | The Telegraph has published positive coverage of MOD's expected plans to save hundreds of millions of pounds annually from security contracts. | Various papers report that Captain Wales yesterday wowed an air show crowd as part of an attack helicopter display team at the RAF Cosford Air Show in Shropshire.

Defence in the Media: 7 June 2013

Summary
The Daily Mirror reports that a primary school was evacuated after a boy brought in an artillery shell to 'show and tell'. An Army bomb disposal team was scrambled and found that the device was not dangerous. | The Telegraph reports that a government programme called 'Troops to Teachers' aims to lure ex-members of the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force into teaching with bursaries, salaries during training and fast-track qualification courses. | The Financial Times reports that Britain has launched a push to revive long-frozen relations with Burma's military, including a visit to the country by the UK's Chief of the Defence Staff and unprecedented offers of assistance for security reforms. | The Daily Express reports that a reward has been offered to catch those who attacked two war memorials. The RAF Bomber Command Memorial has been vandalised twice in just over a week and red graffiti was found on the Animals in War Memorial in Hyde Park. | The Sun reports that Prince Harry held a secret terror summit with MI6 after the killing of fellow soldier Drummer Lee Rigby.

Defence in the Media: 6 June 2013

Summary
Various media report that MOD has announced it is to restart the transfer of detainees to the Afghan authorities. | Various papers report that a former army sergeant who almost bled to death in a Taliban attack has set off on a 36-hour non-stop rowing challenge across the English Channel. | The Wall Street Journal reports that NATO has set out its most detailed plan yet for a mission to train, advise and assist Afghanistan's security forces after 2014. | Various papers report that the Cabinet is seriously split over plans for Britain to take a leading role in arming Syrian opposition forces. | The Guardian reports that more than 155,000 public sector workers could be transferred to private sector jobs in the coming months and years as the government pushes ahead with privatisation plans. | The Telegraph reports that Eric Alley, a veteran of the Arctic Convoys, died just days before he was due to receive his Arctic Star medal.