Defence boost.....
13 February 2013
Thanks to my hurried carelessness, what was meant to be this blog has ended up as a thread on the main forum - never mind as it gives me an opportunity to look at Defence for a moment, a subject close to my heart.
Thanks to my hurried carelessness, what was meant to be this blog has ended up as a thread on the main forum - never mind as it gives me an opportunity to look at Defence for a moment, a subject close to my heart.
Some bits of Defence news I have been picking up on over the last two days.
Defence Secretary has a £1.6bn boost thanks to an underspend and has Treasury clearance to spend this on equipment over the next two years. Two things strike me about this:
1/ This must be the first time for many decades that the MoD has actually had an underspend. This must mean that the notoriously difficult defence budget is getting under control. This can only be a good thing.
2/ It is also an indication that the Treasury recognise this achievement and no longer see defence as an 'Aunt Sally' department. This would certainly not have happened under the previous government, even if they did make such a saving, they cared nothing for the defence budget and to them it was no more than an inconvenience despite how they used and abused our forces.
The construction of the Royal Navy's new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is proceeding at a good pace. The forward island, the 'bridge', passed Dover in the straights on the 8th February to arrive in Scotland on the 11th. Here is a pic of it on its barge on arrival in Scotland, it is massive...
A pic of the ship in her dry dock....
Finally and for good measure, an artists impression of the completed ship in dock in Pompey....
These will be magnificent and powerful ships, the largest ever built for the Royal Navy. What they need next is a balanced air group to fly off them, perhaps it might be a good thing if that underspend were to go towards that......
- just think a new batch of razor blades in 25 years time.
- Actually Brian these vessels have an active service life of over 50 years making them excellent value. Look at the big US carriers as an example of this. The Nimitz was commissioned into service in 1975 having had her keel laid down in 1968, 45 years ago and recently had a refit and is capable of doing service for many more years.
- Additional to my last post I have just read this...
A cut and paste from Wiki...
"""Eventual Replacement
The Nimitz class carriers have a lifespan of approximately 50 years. The Nimitz herself is currently scheduled to be eventually be replaced around 2020 by the Gerald R. Ford–class aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, CVN-79. The exact date of the ship's inactivation and decommissioning will likely depend on Defense Department funding considerations."""""""" - some impressive hardware there, just needs the helicopters/planes to use them to full effect, i doubt the underspend would really make a great difference.
- It might help to speed up development and delivery dates though Howard. £1.6bn is not insignificant even in defence terms.