Two cheers for Hoon as he signals the return of the light brigade

摘要

Faster, Lighter, Smaller. These are to be the key characteristics of the UK's armed forces in future, as set out in the government's new defence review. One of the implications is that the forces should also be cheaper, but the government has played down that aspect to favour of emphasising the need to modernise troops using new technology. It's a good argument. For decades, the emphasis on defence spending has been on firepower, the sheer weight of numbers of aircraft, naval vessels, and weaponry. But as defence secretary Geoff Hoon said in introducing the review: That [emphasis on numbers] might have been appropriate for the attritional warfare of the past, but in today's environment, success will be achieved through an ability to act quickly, accurately and decisively, so as to deliver military effect at the right time.'