Defensiebegrotingen en -problematiek, niet NL

[Lex]

Rasmussen: niet méér bezuinigen op defensie

,,Ik ben niet naïef. Ik weet dat we in tijden van bezuinigingen niet méér kunnen uitgeven. Maar het mag ook niet minder worden", aldus Rasmussen. Hij bepleit dat de lidstaten de kosten drukken door meer samen te doen en te specialiseren.

De financiën van de NAVO worden een hoofdthema's op de volgende NAVO-top, in mei 2012 in Chicago.

Telegraaf,
vr 30 sep 2011, 14:28

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Gelukkig begrijpen ze o.a. in Frankrijk en Zweden dat defensie niet louter een kostenpost is.

[Harald]

Bezuinigingen op Defensie ??

Swedish MoD Proposes Increases in 4-Year Budget

En Frankrijk !!

France Raises Defense Budget 1.6 Percent

PARIS - France increased its 2012 defense budget 1.6 percent to 31.7 billion euros ($43.1 billion) from 31.1 billion euros in 2011, helped by exceptional revenues of 1.1 billion euros from the sale of radio frequencies and property, the Defense Ministry said Sept. 29.

The headline equipment budget rose 3 percent to 16.5 billion euros from 16 billion euros, which includes maintenance and infrastructure. Some 10 billion euros have been earmarked for equipment procurement, said the financial affairs director for the secretary general.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=7828358&c=EUR&s=TOP

[Harald]

Bezuinigingen op Defensie ??

Swedish MoD Proposes Increases in 4-Year Budget

HELSINKI - Sweden's Ministry of Defense wants to hike spending on core military units and defense support organizations and systems under the $28 billion 2012-15 budget proposal submitted this week to the parliament in Stockholm.

The proposal earmarks about $6 billion annually for core defense functions and $600 million, on average, to support organizations such as the materials procurement agency (FMV), defense research and military intelligence functions.

The MoD's four-year budget framework proposes total spending on defense of $6.73 billion in 2012, $6.92 billion in 2013, $7.2 billion in 2014 and $7.3 billion in 2015. It refocuses the Armed Forces Command's procurement strategy on off-the-shelf solutions, while cutting back spending on defense technologies and research and development.

The budget proposal was welcomed by the Armed Forces Command, which during budget consultations called for a scaled increase in spending that would take into account the military's need to acquire tactical helicopters, new-generation submarines, mobile artillery-hunting radar systems and armored vehicles, while investing further in a next-generation Gripen aircraft.

Part of the budget increase, if approved, will be allocated to reform programs, particularly the military's transition to a rapid-deployment force with a modular structure, which would be more useful for national defense and international missions.

The 2012-2015 budget plan also includes proposals intended to save costs. These measures include deepening international collaboration to support joint equipment procurement programs, and sharing military capabilities and resources with friendly nations - initially at least with Nordic neighbors Norway, Finland and Denmark through the existing Nordic Defense Cooperation vehicle.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=7826058&c=EUR&s=TOP

[ARM-WAP]

Liam Fox says MoD partly blame for cuts, as jobs lost
Defence Secretary Liam Fox says the MoD and senior military figures are partly to blame for £5bn budget cuts leading to redundancies in the armed forces.
Some 1,020 Royal Navy personnel are set to hear they are being made redundant as part of a first round of cuts.
Mr Fox told the Guardian the MoD had "consistently dug a hole for itself".
Former navy chief Admiral Lord West told the BBC that during successive governments the military had been cut to a "dangerously low capability".
The navy is cutting numbers by 5,000 to 30,000 by 2015, as part of 22,000 armed forces cuts designed to help save £5bn.
The navy staff losing their jobs are being informed throughout the day. A third of the redundancies are compulsory. Some 810 sailors applied for redundancy and 670 were accepted. RNAS Yeovilton base in Somerset has confirmed that it is losing 124 personnel.
"Start Quote
These are people who were willing to sacrifice their lives for the nation"
End Quote Admiral Lord West Former head of the navy
Earlier this month about 920 soldiers and 930 RAF personnel were told they were being made redundant, in the first tranche of cuts announced in last year's Strategic Defence and Security Review.
The next round of redundancies is due in March. The Ministry of Defence is also shedding 25,000 civilian staff over the next four years.
The former head of the navy, Admiral Lord West, told the BBC: "We have cut and cut and cut for many years and I think we are in real danger of cutting so deeply that we are unable to do things that we require as a nation.
"It is very sad," said Lord West, who was security minister in the last Labour government. "It's sad for the people involved, obviously, 300 of them are compulsory... these are people who were willing to sacrifice their lives for the nation.
"It's a bit worrying that 800 said they would voluntarily go. It's a bit worrying that they felt there was not a future for them."
Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, Dr Fox reflected on the actions of military chiefs under previous government, saying: "I think the MoD consistently dug a hole for itself that it eventually found that it could not climb out of.
"It is irritating to hear some of those who helped create the problem criticising us when we try to bring in a solution."
A "complete breakdown of trust" between the military and the government over ballooning costs reached its zenith towards the end of Gordon Brown's premiership, the defence secretary said.
'Morale knocked'
Sailors reporting for duty on the navy's newest ship, HMS Dragon
He added that he wanted the armed forces to "take the pain early" so the military could balance its books and regain lost credibility.
Morale within the forces had "taken a knock" but most people understood that reform "had to be done", Dr Fox said.
Commodore Michael Mansergh, the head of Royal Navy manning at the Ministry of Defence, told Radio 4's Today programme the reduction in personnel followed a reduction in equipment, including four frigates an aircraft carrier.
"There are certain, certain equipments that are no longer in service and people who are technically suited to operate those equipments will no longer be required," he said.
Only personnel not on or preparing for deployment, and who have taken all their operational leave, have been considered for redundancy from the Royal Navy.
This includes sailors who took part in the Libya campaign on HMS Cumberland and other ships now being decommissioned. Plymouth-based HMS Cumberland was the first UK warship sent to Libya earlier in the year.
The MoD says the decisions it faces are not easy but that they will "help to defend the UK, protect our interests overseas and enable us to work effectively with allies and partners to deliver greater security and stability in the wider world".
Many of the job cuts in the coming years are expected through a decrease in recruitment and by not replacing those who leave, but more than half are likely to be redundancies.
Are you a Royal Navy staff member who is affected? Do you know anyone in the Navy who is due to be made redundant? How will it affect your family? Send us your comments and experiences.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15120821

[andré herc]

Dr Fox: Defence Budget on a firm footing

A Defence Policy and Business news article

27 Sep 11

In an interview with ModernGov magazine Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox has restated his belief that Britain's Armed Forces are prepared for any eventuality.

ModernGov: In the context of the efficiencies required from all government departments, how can the MOD be certain that the Armed Forces have the latest, most-effective equipment they require?

Liam Fox: This government is committed to our military's long-term future. As I made clear to Parliament before the summer recess, the Ministry of Defence can now make plans based on the Defence Equipment and Support budget increasing by one-per-cent-a-year in real terms between 2015/16 and 2020/21.

This new funding commitment puts the Defence Budget on a firm footing for the years beyond the current spending review settlement and enables the MOD to proceed with a range of the high priority programmes set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review [SDSR].

We are therefore proceeding with the procurement of 14 additional Chinook helicopters, the upgrade of the Army's Warrior vehicles, spending on the Joint Strike Fighter, the procurement of the Airseeker intelligence and surveillance aircraft, the cats and traps for the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers, and the development of the Global Combat Ship.

As we approach the next General Election and prepare for the next Defence Review in 2015, a commitment to meet Future Force 2020 will be a key signifier for those political parties dedicated to the vision of a Britain active on the world stage and protected at home.

MG: There appear to be emerging threats to the country, including cyber attacks and even the fallout from civil unease in other parts of the world. How can the country protect itself from these kinds of evolving threats?

LF: As the events this year in the Middle East and North Africa have shown, the security risks we face are fast-moving and often unpredictable and it is an ongoing challenge for us to see around the corner as to where the next threat may come from.

I am clear that it is only by maintaining a reactive stance, with flexible capabilities, that the UK can protect itself from global threats and assist in multinational peacekeeping efforts. The recent action in Libya has shown how the SDSR has enabled us to deal with such emerging events.

With the onset of civil unrest in Libya, British forces were well-placed to quickly and effectively assist in the evacuation of over 1,200 civilians.

What's more, the UK deployed the Royal Navy's Response Force Task Group comprised of a variety of maritime, land and air assets to be on standby to react to unforeseen problems should they arise.

The Task Force's flexibility was demonstrated when its ships and attack helicopters were diverted to support operations in Libya.

All of this was conducted successfully alongside our commitments in Afghanistan where we continue work to ensure that the country can never again become a safe haven from which terrorists can plan attacks on our soil.

The nature of the threat we face is constantly changing and it is only through being prepared that we can properly defend ourselves from new and emerging problems.

You raise the growing threat to our national security from cyberspace. In the last year alone the MOD was subjected to over 1,000 attacks. Through the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance we are working together to address these threats and plan our defence against future attacks.

Technology is fast-moving and it is important that we adapt our defences as the nature and scale of the threat develops.

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/DefencePolicyAndBusiness/DrFoxDefenceBudgetOnAFirmFooting.htm

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Industry face post-SDSR questions at UK's DSEi

By Craig Hoyle

Late last year, the UK armed forces were rocked by the effects of a Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) process overseen by a new coalition government determined to tackle a massive budget deficit head-on.

Almost 12 months later, the defence industry will gather for its largest post-SDSR coming-together at the Defence & Security Equipment International show, or DSEi, which will be held in London's Docklands on 13-16 September.

Since the event was last held two years ago, the UK has lost its fixed-wing carrier strike capability with the early retirement of its BAE Systems Harrier GR7/9s, and seen its replacement maritime patrol aircraft, BAE's Nimrod MRA4, axed after a programme investment of over £3 billion ($4.8 billion).

© BAE Systems

The Nimrod MRA4 project was axed


Also gone are two of the Royal Navy's three Invincible-class aircraft carriers and the Royal Air Force's last Panavia Tornado F3 fighters and Nimrod R1 electronic intelligence aircraft. Two squadrons equipped with the Tornado GR4 strike aircraft have also recently been disbanded, with the move having also trimmed a fleet that is expected to remain in use until around 2020.

Dramatic in nature, these cuts were adopted against a backdrop of the UK's recent withdrawal of forces from Iraq, and with plans in place for the country to end its combat commitment in Afghanistan around 2015, following the progressive transfer of control to local authorities. But the rise of the "Arab Spring" movement in nations across the Middle East and North Africa throughout this year has provided an unexpected test for a military hard-hit by the spending cuts introduced by UK defence secretary Dr Liam Fox.

In announcing the recommendations of the SDSR last October, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said his country's coalition government was seeking to tackle an investment "black hole" inherited from the previous Labour administration, which it valued at £38 billion. Failure to tackle this shortfall now could result in a more "severe recalibration in the future", Fox told the Royal United Services Institute's Air Power conference in London in mid-July.

The SDSR has received much criticism for the swift nature of its completion and the severity of its cuts. Speaking at the same event, one analyst described the process as having been "four years in anticipation, but only four months in gestation".

Sir Brian Burridge, Finmeccanica UK's vice-president, strategic marketing, and formerly one of the RAF's most senior ranking officers, drew a different analogy when referring to the loss of key capabilities. "The concern is that this government might come out of the supermarket without a balanced meal, and that the next time it goes the shelves will be empty," he said.

© SAC Simon Armstrong/Crown Copyright

Tornado GR4s will serve until around 2020


DSEi will provide a focus for the UK's defence contractors to pursue already planned deals and fresh business, both at home and on the international stage. It will also highlight the security opportunities available, with London preparing to host the Olympic Games in mid-2012.

Speaking at a pre-show media briefing on 6 September, minister for international security strategy Gerald Howarth identified the role that global defence and security sales could play in helping to repair the UK's economic prospects. "Exports are critical to a sustainable recovery," he said. "The UK defence industry is proving itself to be well-placed to weather the storm."

With UK defence exports having totalled around £6 billion in 2010 - when it was second only to the USA in terms of total exports - and security systems around £2 billion more, selling on the global stage is a vital requirement at a time of domestic squeeze. Current targets include closing a proposed government-to-government deal to supply Eurofighter Typhoons to Oman, and a campaign to offer the same type for India's medium multi-role combat aircraft deal.

The Typhoon made its combat debut for the UK as a multi-role platform earlier this year, with the RAF employing the type's air-to-surface weapons against regime targets in Libya. Perhaps crucially for the European type, the fighter also looks set to receive an active electronically scanned array radar enhancement, while MBDA's Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile also should be available for operational use from around 2015.

But more attention at DSEi will be given to Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), which will be on display as a full-scale mock-up. However, reflecting the UK's last-minute decision to swap to the C-model carrier variant, the design on show will be in the short take-off and vertical landing guise.

To meet the Joint Combat Aircraft requirement from late this decade, the F-35C will be flown from the Royal Navy's (RN's) two future aircraft carriers, with the combination to reintroduce a big-deck operating model last employed by the UK in the late 1970s.

© BAE Systems

F-35Cs will fly from the UK's future carriers

One source previously involved with the JSF programme describes the SDSR's surprise variant switch as potentially "one of the most catastrophic procurement decisions ever made". Abandoning years of experience in flying vertical/short take-off and landing Harriers could end up costing UK taxpayers billions of pounds extra, the source claims, as a result of the additional training needed to ensure pilots maintain proficiency. Regaining this skill is already a focus of attention, with the RN looking to train a new cadre of Fleet Air Arm officers on US Navy Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

The UK's exact requirements for the F-35 have yet to be set, but the Ministry of Defence has previously identified a need for up to 138 of the aircraft. An initial three F-35Bs were ordered to participate alongside the US military during initial operational test and evaluation of the new aircraft, but the allies are working out the details of a deal to exchange the last example for an F-35C.

The new type could achieve initial operating capability as a land-based asset from roughly 2018, before launching embarked operations around 2020. Its introduction must be balanced with the planned draw-down of the Tornado GR4 force: an activity that Fox says will be "particularly challenging".

Some level of funding commitment will be required next year, to cover the order of long-lead items for an initial batch of around 16 aircraft to be built during the programme's low-rate initial production phase.

"We are still in the midst of the post-defence review figuring our conversion from -35B to -35C, and there's an awful lot of work still in that rescheduling process," says Air Marshal Kevin Leeson, the UK's chief of materiel (air).

For now, while the UK's carrier strike capability lapses, the strong performance of the Army Air Corps' Westland/Boeing Apache AH1 attack helicopters over Libya in May 2011 from HMS Ocean has highlighted one likely means by which the nation could respond to other such contingencies until its future aircraft carriers and F-35Cs enter use.

Plans to buy the JSF were safeguarded in July, when the government announced a planned £3 billion increase in defence spending for the five-year period starting 2015-16. This sum will help to cover initial spending on the F-35C, as well as the costs of converting both Queen Elizabeth-class carriers with catapults and arrestor gear.

The commitment also enabled the MoD last month to sign a £1 billion order for 14 Boeing CH-47 Chinook HC6 transport helicopters and to complete the acquisition of three Air Seeker (RC-135 Rivet Joint) surveillance aircraft. A memorandum of understanding covering logistics support activities and capability updates for the latter fleet until 2025 was also recently signed, with this valued at more than $850 million. The aircraft will replace the retired Nimrod R1s from 2014.

One glaring capability shortfall created by the SDSR has yet to be addressed, however. The cancellation of the Nimrod MRA4 has left the MoD having to improvise on the provision of long-range maritime patrol aircraft cover by using RAF Lockheed C-130J transports and RN AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin HM1 shipborne helicopters.

Proposals have been made by industry to adapt some C-130Js to assume the role on a more formal basis, but other contractors are looking at any potential demand to field a smaller aircraft, possibly using an airframe such as the Alenia Aeronautica C-27J or Hawker Beechcraft King Air. With money to remain tight for some years to come, the idea of acquiring a more dedicated type - such as Boeing's 737-based P-8, now in development for the US Navy - seems fanciful.

© Crown Copyright


The Apache/Ocean pairing could sail again


Importantly, the costs associated with supporting NATO's Libyan operation since March have been covered from the Treasury reserve, and not the over-stretched defence budget.

The Libyan campaign has underlined the importance of the pending introduction of 14 Airbus A330-200-based Voyager tanker/transports from late this year, and of past investments in weapons systems such as MBDA's Storm Shadow cruise missile and dual-mode Brimstone air-to-surface missile, and Raytheon Systems' Paveway IV precision-guided bomb. It has also highlighted the value of the Bombardier Global Express-based Sentinel R1 surveillance aircraft's synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indication sensor, months after it was identified in the SDSR for disposal after the needs of Afghanistan.

The jury is still out as to whether the government's cuts to date and commitment for a future spending increase will cover the armed forces' procurement plans. Answers could be quick in coming, however, with an independent body having been tasked with conducting an "affordability audit" late this year on the MoD's top projects.

Looking at the likely equipment spending bill out to 2018-19 in his Defence Analysis publication, military analyst Francis Tusa says: "The spend curve looks far from balanced, and [SDSR] could well cause as many troubles as it resolved." He adds: "The extra 1% annual defence budget rise is only kicking in after 2015, so one has to ask how the books have been balanced prior to that time, when some £3 billion in funding will be needed."

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/09/07/361694/industry-face-post-sdsr-questions-at-uks-dsei.html

[andré herc]

Published on Monday 22 August 2011 13:05
THE government aims to reverse its controversial decision to mothball the first of the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers, The News can reveal.

Last year's Strategic Defence and Security Review decided HMS Queen Elizabeth – the first of two new 65,000-tonne supercarriers being built for the navy – would be put into storage in Portsmouth to save cash when she arrives in 2016.

But defence minister Gerald Howarth hinted at a U-turn in the next defence review in 2015 – one year before the ship comes into service with the navy.

He told The News: 'The SDSR concluded we needed one carrier but clearly that has its own limitations in availability and clearly the 2015 defence review gives us an opportunity to look again in the prevailing economic conditions and see where we go from there.

'Clearly, all of us would like two aircraft carriers because that gives us the continuous at-sea capability.

'We've had to take some pretty tough decisions but we're hoping to be in a position to recover that one in 2015.


http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/east-hampshire/ministers_reconsider_mothballing_carrier_1_2987052

[andré herc]

A major report from National Defence has identified ways to save the department $1 billion a year and calls for "dramatic changes" so the military can meet its future obligations.

Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie led a "transformation team" at the request of Defence Minister Peter MacKay that spent nearly a year studying ways to overhaul the Canadian Forces and Department of National Defence to find efficiencies.

The group's Report on Transformation 2011 was completed in July but not made public. A copy of the report was obtained by CBC News

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/08/19/pol-dnd-report-cuts.html?ref=rss

[Lynxian]

Of, het is omdat het merendeel uitgezonden is of omdat men(?) de militairen niet werkelijk in durft te zetten. Er is ook te weinig politie.

Ik denk dat 't in maar weinig Westerse landen populair is om de krijgsmacht tegen de burgerbevolking in te zetten. Ook al rellen ze, politici zullen toch altijd vrezen voor hun stemmen en de tijd dat ze niet meer politiek onschendbaar zijn. (Maar toch met name die stemmen...)

[Marc1966]

Of, het is omdat het merendeel uitgezonden is of omdat men(?) de militairen niet werkelijk in durft te zetten. Er is ook te weinig politie.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Rellen UK...

Twitter bericht:

"Army not an option. We don't have much of an army left." says vice president of police federation #BBC #londonriots


Tsja...

Door schade en schande....

[A.J.]

Rellen UK...

Twitter bericht:

"Army not an option. We don't have much of an army left." says vice president of police federation #BBC #londonriots


Tsja...

[Lex]

Navy Drops Carrier Group, Down To Nine

August 5, 2011 — UPDATED Washington: A recent Navy decision to deactivate one of its aircraft carrier groups could be a sign of things to come for the service's carrier fleet.

On Monday, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced that the Navy's Carrier Strike Group 9 will be reassigned from the USS Abraham Lincoln to the USS Ronald Reagan.

The reason for the group's reassignment? To take the place of the recently deactivated Carrier Strike Group 7, stationed in San Diego, Calif. Taking CSG-7 out of the fleet leaves the Navy with only nine operational carrier strike groups.

A number that the sea service will likely be stuck with over the next decade, according Ray Pritchett, who runs the Information Dissemination blog that covers Navy issues closely.

According to Pritchett, the move is the Navy's way of cutting costs early on as DoD prepares for lean funding years ahead. By cutting a carrier group, the Navy can clear all the operations and maintenance costs for that group off their books.

In addition, Pritchett points out, the Navy will also save service dollars in operations and maintenance for the air wings tied to CSG-7.

Even though the Navy will keep all 11 carriers in the fleet, which will drop to 10 ships once the USS Enterprise retires, it will likely maintain the nine carrier group construct for the long term.

Once the Enterprise is taken out of service, the Navy will likely just do the same thing it did with CSG-7, simply shifting the group (CSG-12) from the Enterprise to another carrier.

While the Navy will be able to shoulder the loss of the group, and still maintain a strategic presence worldwide, the message the move sends -- particularly to the Hill -- could be irreversible, according to one defense analyst.

If Navy operations do not suffer as a result of the cut and maintain the nine strike group construct long term, "it will be very hard to bring that [number] back up" if needed, said Travis Sharp, a defense budget analyst at the Center for a New American Security.

The move will also make the Navy's case for the new Ford-class carrier harder to make, Sharp said, noting that the Navy could bolster its amphibious fleet as a way to fill that gap.

AOL Defense.com

[Elzenga]

In de UK beginnen sommigen al dezelfde waan ideëen te krijgen als in Den Haag (volgens het onderstaande artkel)...

Nu maar hopen dat dit soort publiciteit geen breder gevolg gaat krijgen want dan komt er een moment dat Europa een serieus probleem heeft.

ja...een artikel vol naïviteit en gebrek aan inzicht...triest en ook gewoon gevaarlijk.