Those numbers include funding for Ukraine, reserve monies and also other factors that are being spun.
The first draft is pointless and any rewritten version is not a ground up re-review of what can be achieved with the available money, it’s a salami slice of capabilities not a full adjustment of ambition based on priorities. Political interference, inter service arguing and sheer incompetence then ends the process into what is then spun in a glossy 100 page document that says very little.That’s exactly how it works now.
Write a report including threat assessments and make recommendations. HMT refuses to fund the recommendations so review is rewritten and recommendations are diluted again and again until the funding required hits HMTs acceptable level.
Thats how the MoD is in crisis mode and has been for decades. It needs to change for SDSR25.
Agreed, no one can argue with that - it’s how you achieve it where we all differ.Peace and prosperity through deterrence.
Forget mediocre and slow Army divisions, more tactical nukes / long range strike, cyber, ISR combined with capable allied forces in region.
Disagree, having small self contained and rapidly deployable units, flexible highly trained and equipped gives the ability to quickly support and influence events. They are the perfect addition/support to JEF or globally.Anything else is failure and a couple of small but perfectly formed Brigades will do nothing to deter any potential peer adversarie(s).
There is no priority for an expensive Division, at best it makes up numbers when the resources can be used much more wisely.
The problem with the SDSR 2010 was not mass, it was it incoherent nature with fundamental decisions driven by short term cash savings, last minute political interventions and the distortion of Blair’s wars in Afghanistan/Iraq.What is missing is an admission that 2010 was a mistake, the Integrated Review lacked scale and the current funding allocation is insufficient.
What was the legacy? Key capabilities removed which now money has been wasted to rebuild or reversed - MPAs, Carriers, JHF, Sentinel R1 are just a few.