This view by Britain's Minister of Defense is good--if the financing holds up:
“The U.K. has always brought something special to the table” from radar and the turbo jet data that it shared with the United States in World War II to today’s sharing of nuclear data in the Dreadnought/Ohio class ballistic missile sub programs.
“The next phase is all about delivery” in Britain’s modernization strategy to meet the new threats coming from nation states, like Russia and China. Noting that in 2010 when London reassessed its defense-spending program, it downplayed that kind of challenge. But the Kremlin’s aggression against Ukraine, including the seizure of Crimea in 2014, and its use of chemical weapons in Britain in an attempted assassination attempt has prompted a top-to-bottom review of its security needs — including cyber for itself and NATO.
Yeah, I was very unhappy with the 2010 defense policy:
Britain still has tradition and skill in their corner. But let's not fool ourselves that they are meaner after getting leaner. Britain may still think globally, but the size of the force that can deploy globally is close to being irrelevant as anything more than a very minor contribution to an American war effort.
Further, assuming that the cuts have ended is shortsighted, in my opinion. More cuts will come. After all, the author of this piece is already comforting himself by noting that the British are only cutting capabilities that duplicate what we do. If that is the standard, where is the floor? Really, what can't Britain cut if that is the standard? Field tea service?
The British may still think globally, but they are increasingly capable of acting only locally.
I was absolutely wrong that it was safe to downgrade heavy armor and artillery. But that was 2010, in my defense and while I have long worried about the potential of Russia to attack Crimea and eastern Ukraine, I didn't anticipate it then.
And in 2012 I expressed my concerns about how the British army was being gutted.
I would never underestimate Britain. They are good and they have been a good ally since our unfortunate incidents in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
But quantity has a quality all its own, as the expression goes. Let's hope the British don't underestimate that factor when they build their military back up, in an effort to be globally relevant.
