Today’s defence related news includes coverage of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s visit to London, £102 million of LIBOR fines being given to military charities and a story about an academic report into the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
NATO
The Times and the Daily Telegraph both report that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that other countries need to do more to meet the 2% NATO spending target during his visit to London yesterday. The coverage also outlines that the UK is one of five NATO countries that meets the 2% target.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said:
Britain is stepping up to deal with the threats we face. The Army and RAF are providing assurance to NATO allies; with troops going to Estonia and Poland and jets being deployed to the Black Sea. Our Royal Navy is taking on people traffickers and training new Libyan forces in the Mediterranean. The UK is ahead of the NATO spending target and we’re ensuring the Royal Navy is growing with cutting-edge new aircraft carriers, frigates and submarines launching over the next few years.
You can read more about Secretary General Stoltenberg’s visit here.
LIBOR Funding for Military Charities
The Daily Express, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph report that military charities are to get an extra £102m from LIBOR fines.
You can read more about how LIBOR funding is benefiting the military community here.
Nuclear Deterrent
The Herald has run a story based on an academic report into the UK’s nuclear deterrent, however the MOD recognises none of the claims made in the report. Our statement was not carried in the piece, and can be read in full below:
An MOD spokesperson said:
The Royal Navy’s £31bn Dreadnought programme provides for four submarines that will provide the ultimate guarantee of Britain’s security through to the 2060s. HMNB Clyde is one of the largest employment sites in Scotland, will be home of all of Britain’s submarines by 2020, and to 8200 jobs by 2022. The withdrawal or cancellation of Dreadnought could have implications for future shipbuilding in Scotland.
We do not recognise the conclusions of the report - for example it fails to appreciate that the Type 26 frigate is designed to protect the deterrent, so a withdrawal of Trident or cancellation of Dreadnought could reduce the need for Type 26 ships and therefore the need for Clyde shipbuilding.
Equally, we have been clear on the cost estimates published on the Dreadnought submarine. We expect four new submarines to cost £31 billion spread over 35 years that cost equates to 20 pence in every £100 of annual government spending. The in-service costs remain unchanged – around 6% of the annual defence budget. We believe that is a price worth paying for a capability that underpins the national security and economic prosperity of the entire nation through to the 2060s and beyond.
We are also clear that the investment required to maintain the nuclear deterrent is not at the cost of other conventional capabilities.
