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Britain
UK special forces face big cuts in support network
2013-02-03
The support network for BritainÂ’s special forces is facing major cutbacks with around 600 posts earmarked to be lost in a reorganisation to coincide with the military pull-out from Afghanistan.

Sources told The Sunday Telegraph that the controversial move could become necessary because the campaign had seen a build-up of support and logistics to enable elite squads to carry out their operations which would no longer be necessary.

The proposals, drawn up at the Ministry of Defence, do not affect the fighting troops of the Special Air Service or the Special Boat Service.

However 156 posts are expected to be lost from the Special Forces Support Group, which provides infantry and specialised support to SAS and SBS operations. The rest of the 600 posts are from units providing vehicles, signals, logistics and intelligence — the key “enablers” which allow elite troops to operate.

The plans come in the wake of last weekÂ’s confusion over the CoalitionÂ’s plans for future overall spending on defence.

David Cameron suggested that totals would be increased “year on year” from 2015, following the next Whitehall spending review. But Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, later said the increase would apply only to equipment.

Mr Hammond today opens up a new rift with the Liberal Democrats over the future of Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent. He uses an article in The Sunday Telegraph to back a like-for-like replacement of the current Trident submarine system as “the best option for Britain”.

He warns that alternative systems being studied by the Liberal Democrats would carry “enormous financial, technical and strategic risk” — and could even risk triggering a nuclear war.

Sources said the cuts proposed to special forces support were “an option being considered by the military” because certain roles would not be needed after the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan, scheduled to take place by the end of 2014.

Some military figures are unhappy about the latest plan. One said the decisions in the SDSR would be “completely undermined” if it was implemented and added: “This is absolutely bonkers — it will institutionalise overstretch within the UK’s special forces at a time when they have been operating, and need to continue to operate, at a high tempo.”

Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, said: “These very specialised, high-end forces, which the UK now needs more than ever, are being made redundant at the same time as ministers hail their importance. Prime ministerial promises to support defence seem even more worthless.”

Mr Hammond, meanwhile, backs moves to keep a continuous nuclear deterrent at sea. It offers Britain more “freedom of manoeuvre” in a crisis, while the Trident missile system provides “range” and “endurance”, he argues.

Replacing Trident would cost around five to six per cent of the annual defence budget, which would be “affordable” and would enhance links with the US, which uses the same system, according to Mr Hammond.

His comments come days after Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem Treasury Chief Secretary, said a direct replacement for Trident was “not financially realistic”.
Posted by:lotp

#4  The Brits are going to support or save France + Germany, etc. Euros from the Caliphate, Nuke-wannabe Global Jihad - HOW, AGAIN???

E.g. WORLD NEWS > JIHADISTS IN GERMANY [pro-Salafism] TERROR THREAT TO AMERICA + ALLIES, SAY NEW TRAC ANALYSIS.

German = Allemaigney Bad Boyz are increasingly non-Foreign or non-Foreign born converts to Islam + Salafism from traditionally Western religions. IOW, GERMAN YOUNG PEOPLE ARE UNHAPPY WID GERMAN ANDOR WESTERN LIBERAL SECULARISM.

Reminds me of STAR TREK:TNG EPISODE [paraph] > LT. WOORF = made the observation that "NEW GENERATION(S) OF KLINGON WARRIORS ARE HUNGRY FOR SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE".

As for America = Amerika, ...

* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > IS THIS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD AN INDEPENDENT WHITE REPUBLIC IN THE US? | [Independent.CO.UK] AMERICA - GUN-TOTING RIGHTS TAKEN TO THE HILLS. [US] LIBERTARIANS ARE PLANNING TO SET UP SELF-SUFFICIENT COMMUNITIES TO TURN THEIR BACKS ON BARACK OBAMA'S AMERICA.

Anti-Marxist, anti-Socialist, anti-Liberal, + anti-Establishment Republicans [GOP-Conservatives = RINOS-CINOS?].

----------

Once again, Year 2014 = formal request by US State-Local Govts, NOT just Citizen-Resident Individuals, to SECEDE from the US Federal Union of States, as dependent on what happens between the BAMMER-VS-CHINA-IRAN + US-WORLD ECON DURING THIS YEAR 2013.

FED DENIAL OF RIGHT TO SECEDE = RISE OF ARMED REBELLION + MILITANCY IN THE US???

ADVANTAGE = ANTI-US LEFTISTS-GLOBALISTS + ALIGNED, "POST-US" RISING CHINA, RISING IRAN, + FUTURE NUCLEAR RADICAL ISLAM.

BAD FOR AMERICANS, GOOD FOR "MORE OR WORSE THE CHAOS/ANARCHIES THE BETTER" ANTI-US OWG NAU 2015.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-02-04 00:04  

#3  Looks like Britain may be going back to that stage again

Y'mean "off with the fairies" - again?
Posted by: Pappy   2013-02-03 20:51  

#2  McNab's Bravo Two Zero was another good read. Glad I wasn't on hand for that one. :-(
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-02-03 15:48  

#1  There's an old book by Chris Ryan who was in the SAS "The One That Got Away". The book received a fair amount of criticism because of some things thay Ryan said in his account. Just the same ... his basic accomplishments for E&E were outstanding. The thing that amazed me about that book was how little support was given to the SAS when they first deployed to the Gulf (First Gulf War). Guys were scrounging for all kinds of equipment, including firearms and rifles. That's insane. Looks like Britain may be going back to that stage again.
Posted by: Raider   2013-02-03 14:10  

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