Our Unaffordable Defence Policy: What now?

摘要

This section is aimed at stimulating debate on a subject of wide interest. This time, we examine the inexorable rise of defence equipment costs in real terms, which will inevitably make our equipment programme clearly unaffordable in the near future. Something has to give - and soon. Will this Government or future governments increase defence funding by some 30%? If not, do we cut commitments drastically and reduce still further the size of our Armed Forces? Or do we dismantle our defence posture and divert money from large high-tech programmes like the aircraft carriers, the Joint Strike Fighter, attack helicopters and large numbers of Typhoons into equipment for our boots-on-the-ground?