Reporting on Defence matters this morning focuses on the continuing Police investigation following an attempted abduction near RAF Marham earlier in the week and Royal Navy recruitment for submarines.
RAF Marham
Nearly all of the papers continue reporting on last week’s attempted abduction of an RAF serviceman near RAF Marham. The papers report that Norfolk Police have said that investigators believe that the two attackers were ‘part of a larger team’, and were not able to discount terrorism as a motive for the attack, although other lines of enquiry were open.
Elsewhere, The Sun reports that soldiers have been told to 'scrub' the web of pictures in uniform to deter terror attacks. The article states that military bosses want to avoid another Lee Rigby-style attack. It goes on to say that troops are warned to wipe images of deployments or posts stating where they are based from social media. The piece states that personnel have also been told to run in pairs off-base after two men armed with a blade tried to bundle an airman into the back of a van near RAF Marham in Norfolk.
Submarine personnel recruitment
The Sunday Times (Business) carries an article from their industry correspondent’s visit to Rolls-Royce’s nuclear facility in Raynesway, Derby last month. The article states that Rolls-Royce will handle about 15% of the Successor programme, worth around £6.2bn, and be responsible for not just the reactor and cooling system, but also the wider propulsion system.
Elsewhere, the Sunday Express reports that the Royal Navy is struggling to recruit enough personnel to man its submarines because young people do not want to be cut off from social media for up to 90 days at a time. The article states that the service is already suffering from a shortage of engineers, and the situation has been worsened by the need to man the new aircraft carriers, with some of the crews on the Vanguard-class boats having to sail three times a year. The Royal Navy’s statement is not carried in the article but can be seen below.
A Royal Navy spokesperson said:
A career as a submariner remains both rewarding and fulfilling. The introduction of a dedicated submarine recruitment team is delivering results, and the majority of targets are now being met.