Ministry of defence to fund £20bn Trident upgrade

[Treatment]

Remind me again, why do we need a nuclear deterrent?

 

So if any little half arsed country takes a crack at us we can Tippex them off the map.

[Obelix]

Why do we need an amphibious landing force capability with all the attendant support? Are we invading France any time soon? If we did invade France couldn't the MOD requisition a Brittany Ferry?

 

Why do we need air defence vessels? How many of our 'enemies' have an air strike capability that requires navel vessels to defend against? Answer, none.

 

And, it's pointless comparing us to the USA, especially as they will also be scaling back before long.

 

Once you take a few steps back and take a dispassionate look you realise that much of the current Forces strength falls in to the 'nice to have' category rather than the 'need to have'.

 

We didn't "need" HMS Endurance in the early 1980's and look what happened when we got rid of it.

 

If we are not at war we don't need any armed forces at all. The trouble is as soon as you have no standing forces, you suddenly find out that you need them. Ask the Belgians, they can tell you all about what happens if you have a history of a weak army and reliance on outside support, or the "goodwill" of neighbours.

[Fogey]

You can never build ships fast enough if you wait until you need them, thinking that a country will just play by rules when you have no way of stopping them is just stupid. How many times have we invaded nations in the last few years? How many other wars have occured across the planet. If a country as apparently civilised and developed as ours is capable of launching an all out invasion what is to stop any other?

 

The Navy is Britains best line of defence. It allows us to confront our agressors on their territory rather than ours and defends outlying outposts. To abandon it is to invite disaster.

 

It also helps defend vital shipping. In a country where we rely on imports to survive its not just the falklands that speaks volumes about cutting your fleet, 2 world wars should have taught us how valuable the navy really is.

[mj.scuba]

Why don't we just sell Trident to Iran or North Korea, that will solve a big part of our deficit problem and save them the hassle of having to develop their own nukes.

[Tony]

Looks like there's an open debate within the coalition about Trident.

 

Campbell calls for Trident review

Following the announcement by George Osborne last week that the Ministry of Defence would shoulder the capital costs of replacing Trident, Sir Menzies Campbell called upon the Government to review the replacement as part of the Strategic Defence Review.

 

He commented: “How can you possibly take on such a large financial commitment as Trident without considering the military and political implications? If fierce cuts are to be made in Britain’s conventional forces, surely we have to consider whether replacing Trident can be justified.”

 

Meanwhile, more people are joining the call against like-for-like replacement of Trident. On Wednesday, General Sir Hugh Beach, General Lord Ramsbotham and Field Marshal Lord Bramall called the nuclear deterrent ‘anachronistic’ in a letter to the Times. On Monday, Mary Ann Sieghart in the Independent quoted the Royal United Services Institute which questions the need for a Continuous At Sea Deterrent in a world where the threats increasingly come from individuals and groups, not states.

 

I'll bet that a few people didn't expect that.

[HeadingNorth]

So if any little half arsed country takes a crack at us we can Tippex them off the map.

 

Why is it, then, that almost every other country in Europe does not need a nuclear deterrent? Why are we more likely to be "taken a crack at" than anyone else in Europe, and what can we do to reduce the likelihood so that we don't need the deterrent either?

[Harleyman]

The question to ask is how Britain sees itself in the decades ahead.

 

Is it to continue to play a role in being a "policeman" or to eventually become like Norway or Switzerland maintaining a force for home defence only.

 

Is there any likelehood that Britain would face invasion? If so from where and by who?

 

Highly unlikely

 

A nuclear deterrent in the form of land based ICBMs would probably be the best bet and that system more than likely already exists

 

A Coast Guard equipped with vessels using the very latest technology would always be essential if only to fight drug smuggling and illegal immigration

[hard2miss]

so one day we can get to fire them at iran....

And don't give Israel the impression we are week or they'll be attacking us.

[hard2miss]

Adding to the story, they are already have 30 billion 'black hole' to tackle, without another 20 billion out of an already dwindling budget.

[Russ Tee]

Britain is not skint at all. The present administration however would like us to believe that we are in order to keep us malleable.