Today’s defence in the media blog includes news on commemorations of the Battle of Cambrai.
Centenary of the Battle of Cambrai
The Daily Mirror, Daily Star and The Times write today that a replica First World War Mark IV tank was brought to London on Sunday for the centenary of the Battle of Cambrai, the first battle in which tanks were deployed in significant numbers. The Press Association also published a piece on the relevance of the tank, set in the context of the centenary of the Battle. Lieutenant Colonel Simon Ridgway, commanding officer of the Royal Tank Regiment, was interviewed, discussing the history of the battle and stating that tanks continue to have a real value in terms of the capability the Army provides.
Chief of the General Staff, Sir Nicholas Carter said:
The Battle of Cambrai marked a significant moment in the evolution of armoured warfare and The Royal Tank Regiment are rightly proud of what they achieved in the battle 100 years ago. The tactics and technology employed at Cambrai were in many ways the proving ground for the hugely successful integration of infantry, armour, artillery and air power that led to the decisive combined arms manoeuvre in the last 100 days of the war in 1918. Just as they did 100 years ago, the tanks of the British Army remain a vital capability on today’s battlefields.
UK helps in efforts to find missing Argentine submarine
There is widespread coverage today, including on BBC Radio 4, BBC News, Sky News, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, The Herald (Glasgow), and The Times, that the Royal Navy is assisting in the rescue effort to help Argentina locate the missing submarine, ARA San Juan. The UK has deployed the ice patrol ship HMS Protector, which is equipped with sonar equipment, and a Hercules is on standby in the Falklands.
Commanding Officer of HMS Protector, Captain Angus Essenhigh, said:
Having arrived on station early this morning we are now assisting with the search and rescue efforts and my team on board are trained and equipped to deal with this task. They worked hard to ensure we were ready to begin search operations as soon as we arrived and we are now on task, using all the means at our disposal to try and locate the submarine. Our thoughts remain with the crew of the ARA San Juan and their families at this time.
You can read more about the UK’s support to Argentina here.
MOD budget
Daily Mirror, The Times, The Sun and Daily Record run speculative stories on the National Strategic Capability Review and the MOD budget.
An MOD spokesperson said:
In the face of rapidly intensifying threats, we are contributing to the cross-government review of national security capabilities and looking at how we best spend our rising defence budget to protect our country. We are investing in brand new equipment from submarines, frigates and carriers for a growing Navy, to state-of-the-art vehicles for the Army, to a whole range of cutting-edge technologies through our £800m innovation fund.
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