In a quieter morning for UK Defence news, it is being reported that, according to the Indonesian police, the suicide bomber attack in Jakarta, which killed two people and injured 20, was funded by Daesh.
Bearskins
The Daily Mirror reports on the use of real fur being used for soldiers’ bearskin Busbys, stating that the bill for the fur has risen 482%. The short article notes that there have been calls for alternative materials to be used and that 35 hats were bought in 2008 compared to 122 in 2015.
The MOD position is as follows:
We have examined various alternative materials in the past, but none has come remotely close to matching the natural properties of bear fur in terms of shape, weight and its ability to repel moisture in wet conditions.
The black bear is culled in large numbers each year by the Canadian authorities because the population is dangerously high. We only take 100 pelts a year and that is a fraction of the number culled.
Sharia Law
The Daily Express reports on Home Office plans to prosecute Islamic extremists who call for Sharia law in Britain or try to enforce it through their own “courts”. The plans would include preventing people from making public protest against members of the Armed Forces, and a source quoted in the paper says that the proposals will fit into the Counter Extremism Bill. The article states that Home Secretary Theresa May wants to criminalise activities which undermine British Law and target the military.
Defence Spend
Social media activity this morning has suggested that UK military spend is the eighth largest when measured as a percentage of GDP, based on SIPRI's 2014 estimates. The Ministry of Defence does not carry out international comparisons on this basis. In fact, the UK has the second largest budget for Defence spend in NATO, the largest in the EU and the fifth largest in the world, when you look at total spend.
Tuesday 12 January marked 100 years since the formation of 33 Squadron and the iconic day was commemorated with a formal parade in the hangar that has been their home since 1997.
Royal Air Force Benson - 33 Sqn Centenary Parade - 12 Janurary 2016 - Corporal (Cpl) Connor Payne
Image shows: The parade formed on the parade square.
The Puma detachment are usually based out of Royal Air Force Benson, Oxfordshire.
33 Squadron have been in Afghanistan since early January 2016 and will remain there till the Spring.
Photo credit: Cpl Alex Scott, Media Ops
Follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to sign up for email alerts.