Apparently the MOD secretly thinks the UK really needs a defence budget of 3.6% of GDP, to fund all three armed services and pay for the nuclear deterrent.
What are we ever going to do with the nuclear capability? Nuke Reykjavik when there’s another cod war? Delusions of empire and global standing but without the wherewithal are simply embarrassing
There is another way forward, which is to take the Nuclear Deterrent out of the Defence Budget and run it directly from the Treasury. The Deterrent is a national strategic asset, and should be funded as such, with the RN in effect providing a service contract to run it. At present all other equipment budgets in defence are held hostage to the Dreadnought programme, removing it means that the MOD can focus on conventional defence programmes, without fear of Dreadnought cost escalation eating into their funds.
Why wouldn't the MOD do this? Partly because that would show how parlous our spending is on conventional defence projects.
Although there is an irony that the new deterrent is called Dreadnought. The original HMS Dreadnought was an innovative battleship that when launched marked a new era in naval warfare. With advances in sensors, AI/ML and Quantum Computing, the new Dreadnought may be launched in time for a new era when submarines can no longer hide beneath the waves, in effect rendering the Deterrent ineffective, just as the original HMS Dreadnought rendered other pre-class battleships obsolete.
What are we ever going to do with the nuclear capability? Nuke Reykjavik when there’s another cod war? Delusions of empire and global standing but without the wherewithal are simply embarrassing
There is another way forward, which is to take the Nuclear Deterrent out of the Defence Budget and run it directly from the Treasury. The Deterrent is a national strategic asset, and should be funded as such, with the RN in effect providing a service contract to run it. At present all other equipment budgets in defence are held hostage to the Dreadnought programme, removing it means that the MOD can focus on conventional defence programmes, without fear of Dreadnought cost escalation eating into their funds.
Why wouldn't the MOD do this? Partly because that would show how parlous our spending is on conventional defence projects.
Although there is an irony that the new deterrent is called Dreadnought. The original HMS Dreadnought was an innovative battleship that when launched marked a new era in naval warfare. With advances in sensors, AI/ML and Quantum Computing, the new Dreadnought may be launched in time for a new era when submarines can no longer hide beneath the waves, in effect rendering the Deterrent ineffective, just as the original HMS Dreadnought rendered other pre-class battleships obsolete.