Today’s Defence in the media blog includes coverage of foreign Maritime Patrol Aircraft deployed to the UK and reports on plans to conduct a Freedom of Navigation Operation in the South China Sea.
Foreign Maritime Patrol Aircraft
BBC Raido 4 Today Programme, BBC Breakfast, The Sun and Telegraph all report that the number of foreign maritime patrol aircraft stationed in the UK has risen by 76 per cent from 2015 to 2016.
An MOD spokesperson said:
“80% of the flights in 2016 were exercises and the actual number of operational flights was lower last year than in 2015.
“In 2010 there was a £38 billion black hole in the defence budget and difficult decisions had to be made including scrapping Nimrod which was 9 years late, £800M over budget, and had failed to produce one plane that was safe to fly.
“We work closely with our NATO allies on security in the North Atlantic and have robust force protection measures in place for our assets which we continually review. We are investing in maritime patrol aircraft as part of our £178bn equipment plan, with the first of our nine P8 aircraft set to be delivered in 2019 as planned.”
Freedom of Navigation Operation in the South China Sea
The Times, The Financial Times, and The Daily Mail report on the Defence Secretary and Foreign Secretary visit to Australia for the Australia-UK Ministerial meeting. During the visit, the Defence Secretary and Foreign Secretary confirmed the UK's commitment to the South China Sea as part of the Five Power Defence Arrangements between the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said:
"We hope to send a warship to the Asia Pacific next year. We have not finalised exactly where that deployment will take place, but we have the right of freedom of navigation and we will exercise it. In a darker and more dangerous world, Britain is stepping up to confront the challenges we face.”
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