Due to the recent Defence Budget by the UK government, and the recent India defence spending, wohat do members here think of Pakistan taking advantage of this budget cut and deal with the British (as an ally in the WoT) and acquire equipment being put down........
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BBC News - Defence review: HMS Ark Royal to be scrapped
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The Royal Navy's flagship, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, is to be scrapped early as part of the government's defence review.
The UK's Harrier jump jets will be axed, the money saved going towards the cost of two new aircraft carriers.
It means that, until at least 2019, Britain will not have the ability to launch fighter jets at sea.
David Cameron is due to unveil more details of the first strategic defence and security review in 12 years.
Continue reading the main story
Defence Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC the fleet had to modernise and have the "correct balance for the next 30 to 40 years".
He said there had been periods in the past - before the Harriers came on stream - when the UK had aircraft carriers with no planes to fly on them. Dr Fox said there would be a range of helicopters and unmanned aircraft which would still be able to fly from them.
Unveiling the defence review at about 1530 BST, Mr Cameron is expected to announce:
* The Ark Royal, launched in 1985, will be decommissioned almost immediately, rather than in 2014, as previously planned
* The construction of two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will go ahead, as it would cost more to cancel the projects than proceed with them
* The navy will lose 4,000 personnel and its surface fleet will be cut from 24 to 19
* Some squadrons of RAF Tornado jets will be saved - although some air force bases will close
* The Army will have to cut up to 7,000 or so personnel over the next five years, and lose 100 tanks and heavy artillery
* The Ministry of Defence itself will face substantial cuts to its civilian staff
The BBC has learned that at least one of the new carriers will be redesigned so that it can deploy normal fighter aircraft that do not need a Harrier-style vertical lift capability.
Continue reading the main story
Dr Fox said that there would be "interoperability" so strike fighter aircraft from allies such as France could land on UK aircraft carriers, and vice versa.
Meanwhile, sources say £750m ($1.2bn) will be saved over four years on the Trident nuclear deterrent missile system but it is not yet clear how those savings will be made.
Dr Fox insisted any changes to the timetable for its replacement would not stop the UK's ability "to maintain a credible minimum nuclear deterrent".
Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was "worried" by the scale of UK defence cuts.
But a Downing Street spokesman said the prime minister had spoken to President Obama on Monday, promising the UK would "remain a first-rate military power and a robust ally of the United States".
It would "continue to work closely with the US on the full range of current security priorities", he added.
The Financial Times reports that, in his statement to Parliament, Mr Cameron will say spending will double on alleviating poverty in areas of conflict - such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia - to £4bn ($6.3bn) by 2015, while funding to other states like Russia and China will be reduced.
The defence review is being published in two phases. The first, on Monday, revealed the government's national security strategy, setting out the biggest emerging threats to the UK.
It included attacks on computer networks, alongside terrorism and a flu pandemic.
The last strategic defence review in 1998 took more than a year, while this one has been carried out in five months, leading to accusations that the government has rushed the process.
It has been undertaken at the same time as the Spending Review - due to be published on Wednesday - which is expected to see huge cuts to departmental spending across Whitehall.
Lord West, who served as security minister in Gordon Brown's Labour government, told the BBC the armed forces were taking some "real hits".
He added: "The navy and air force are really being cut back to the bone and I don't think we should forget that... we need the wherewithal to do the things we want to do. There's a real danger that we won't have that."
Meanwhile, the BBC has learned that BAE Systems fears thousands of jobs could go if there were cuts to the Eurofighter programme or joint strike fighters and in Scotland there are concerns two of its RAF bases - Kinloss and Lossiemouth - could close.
--------------
BBC News - Defence review: HMS Ark Royal to be scrapped
---
The Royal Navy's flagship, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, is to be scrapped early as part of the government's defence review.
The UK's Harrier jump jets will be axed, the money saved going towards the cost of two new aircraft carriers.
It means that, until at least 2019, Britain will not have the ability to launch fighter jets at sea.
David Cameron is due to unveil more details of the first strategic defence and security review in 12 years.
Continue reading the main story
Defence Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC the fleet had to modernise and have the "correct balance for the next 30 to 40 years".
He said there had been periods in the past - before the Harriers came on stream - when the UK had aircraft carriers with no planes to fly on them. Dr Fox said there would be a range of helicopters and unmanned aircraft which would still be able to fly from them.
Unveiling the defence review at about 1530 BST, Mr Cameron is expected to announce:
* The Ark Royal, launched in 1985, will be decommissioned almost immediately, rather than in 2014, as previously planned
* The construction of two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, will go ahead, as it would cost more to cancel the projects than proceed with them
* The navy will lose 4,000 personnel and its surface fleet will be cut from 24 to 19
* Some squadrons of RAF Tornado jets will be saved - although some air force bases will close
* The Army will have to cut up to 7,000 or so personnel over the next five years, and lose 100 tanks and heavy artillery
* The Ministry of Defence itself will face substantial cuts to its civilian staff
The BBC has learned that at least one of the new carriers will be redesigned so that it can deploy normal fighter aircraft that do not need a Harrier-style vertical lift capability.
Continue reading the main story
Dr Fox said that there would be "interoperability" so strike fighter aircraft from allies such as France could land on UK aircraft carriers, and vice versa.
Meanwhile, sources say £750m ($1.2bn) will be saved over four years on the Trident nuclear deterrent missile system but it is not yet clear how those savings will be made.
Dr Fox insisted any changes to the timetable for its replacement would not stop the UK's ability "to maintain a credible minimum nuclear deterrent".
Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was "worried" by the scale of UK defence cuts.
But a Downing Street spokesman said the prime minister had spoken to President Obama on Monday, promising the UK would "remain a first-rate military power and a robust ally of the United States".
It would "continue to work closely with the US on the full range of current security priorities", he added.
The Financial Times reports that, in his statement to Parliament, Mr Cameron will say spending will double on alleviating poverty in areas of conflict - such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia - to £4bn ($6.3bn) by 2015, while funding to other states like Russia and China will be reduced.
The defence review is being published in two phases. The first, on Monday, revealed the government's national security strategy, setting out the biggest emerging threats to the UK.
It included attacks on computer networks, alongside terrorism and a flu pandemic.
The last strategic defence review in 1998 took more than a year, while this one has been carried out in five months, leading to accusations that the government has rushed the process.
It has been undertaken at the same time as the Spending Review - due to be published on Wednesday - which is expected to see huge cuts to departmental spending across Whitehall.
Lord West, who served as security minister in Gordon Brown's Labour government, told the BBC the armed forces were taking some "real hits".
He added: "The navy and air force are really being cut back to the bone and I don't think we should forget that... we need the wherewithal to do the things we want to do. There's a real danger that we won't have that."
Meanwhile, the BBC has learned that BAE Systems fears thousands of jobs could go if there were cuts to the Eurofighter programme or joint strike fighters and in Scotland there are concerns two of its RAF bases - Kinloss and Lossiemouth - could close.
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