The one area I do worry about however is Submarine construction, we cannot afford to loose the skills relearned during the ASTUTE build programme, they must be retained, either by building more ASTUTES (7&8) or by moving on to the SSBN replacement.
Well there's good news on that front:
http://www.defencemanagement.com/news_story.asp?id=8351
Hutton confirms Astute submarine order
Monday, January 26, 2009
Britain needs seven Astute Class submarines and will buy all of the planned orders Defence Secretary John Hutton.
Speaking during a visit to Barrow shipyard, the home of Britain's submarine construction, Hutton moved to quell any rumours that the Astute order may be further reduced from seven to four as a result of a massive budget deficit.
"We are absolutely committed to building seven Astute submarines.
"The Royal Navy needs them, the country needs them, we need them locally and they are going to be very capable submarines for the Royal Navy, so there is no question at all about that," Hutton said.
His comments, which were first reported in the North West Evening Mail, are in sharp contrast from the murky statements made in Parliament over the last few weeks. Defence ministers have avoided questions about when the final three Astutes will be ordered as speculation has mounted that the Barrow shipyard cannot sustain the work on both the Astutes and the Vanguard replacement programme.
The Royal Navy has been the primary victim of defence cuts and delays over the last few years. The carrier programme has been delayed by two years while the Type 45 Destroyer order has been halved from 12 to six. With the Astute order already being dropped from eight to seven, there was speculation that further cuts were on the way.
"In the current climate, it is more important than ever that the government sticks to the commitments that it has made," Hutton stated.
He denied that the government is cutting defence spending and moved to place the blame on the previous Conservative government.
"We are not planning to cut defence spending, far from it, defence spending is rising and that is a good thing.
"Defence spending had come down," Hutton said discussing his early years as an MP, "And we know the consequences of that."
http://www.defencemanagement.com/news_story.asp?id=8415
Hutton signals go ahead for Trident
Friday, January 30, 2009
The replacements for the Vanguard submarines "have to be built" according to Defence Secretary John Hutton, despite concerns about the £20bn price tag at a time when the MoD budget is stretched thin.
Recently several retired generals and defence chiefs including Lord Ramsbotham who interviewed with Defencemanagement.com, have raised opposition to the Trident replacement programme, arguing that the costs were too much and the size of the programme could be smaller. They called for a renewed debate on the entire issue of Trident.
Huge delays to other procurement programmes has justified the argument by some that the Trident programme must be delayed by five to ten years. But in an interview Hutton confirmed that the new submarines would be going ahead.
"They have to be built because that is an absolutely crucial part of our defence.
"You have to think about the next fifty years, not the next five years.
"We know there are nuclear weapons states around the world. We know they are trying to enhance their capability. We have to defend ourselves and the deterrent allows us to do that," Hutton said in comments that first appeared in the Northwest Evening Mail.
Hutton at times appeared to be taking on theme of protecting future generations by renewing the deterrent, noting that "previous generations have had the benefit of the nuclear deterrent. It's been very controversial, I don't dispute that, but they have had the benefit of it and I think we should make sure future generations do so as well."
Even though Lord Ramsbotham and leading experts on the Vanguard submarines have argued that the current programme could actually be extended by ten years to 2034, thus allowing the replacements for Trident to be delayed by a further eight to ten years, Hutton claimed that any delay would lead to a period where Britain would be without nuclear weapons.
Britain has also come under sharp criticism for advocating nuclear disarmanent but then renewing Trident. Hutton argued that the best way to achieve the former was to have the latter in proliferation discussions.
"If we want to be able to defend ourselves we have to take decisions now, otherwise there will be a gap in the nuclear deterrence and that would be profoundly dangerous for the UK."
Britain is expected to build four new submarines to carry the nuclear deterrent from 2024 onwards.
As ever, I'll believe it when it happens, but the signs are promising.
