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Shadow defense minister says UK military risks downsizing to Belgian status
September 7th, 2009 | DSEI 2009 | Posted by Tom Kington
In a stinging attack on the defense policy of the UK’s governing Labour Party, shadow defense minister Gerald Howarth warned on Monday that the UK military risks shrinking to become a force on par with the Belgian army.
“Some question whether we can afford to carry on as a global player, given the Gordon Brown legacy,” he said in a speech to defense and industry officials in London, which he released for publication.
“Do we really want to drop down into the Third Division of nations alongside, say, Belgium?”
As the UK nears a general election next year, the opposition Conservative Party is beating the incumbent Labour Party in opinion polls.
Howarth said it was “unacceptable” that the government had not yet published the findings of a report on UK defense procurement written by businessman Bernard Gray, despite the leaking of it to the UK press.
“The process is far too cumbersome and bureaucratic – apparently described by Bernard Gray as ‘sclerotic’,” said Howarth, adding that the UK current procurement program outstretches resources and that the top 20 programmes have experienced historic cost growth of £2.95 billion and suffered total delays of 483 months.
In his speech, Howarth spelt out the main tenets of his party’s defense policy, starting with maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent and operating aircraft carriers.
“We are committed to maintaining a vibrant defence industrial base in the UK,” he added.
“Under Labour there has been investment in immediately required kit to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the Royal Navy has been hollowed out, the RAF is saddled with a ridiculous PFI for air-to-air refuelling, and the Army has had to manage with 40 year old armoured vehicles,” he said.
Tags: howarth, procurement, UK
Lord Drayson courted by UK opposition party
September 7th, 2009 | DSEI 2009 | Posted by Tom Kington
Lord Drayson, the businessman turned politician who launched the UK’s Defense Industrial Strategy before resigning to go motor racing, got the clearest sign on Monday that he would be welcome to work with the Conservative party should it beat the incumbent Labour Party in next year’s UK election.
“I don’t regard him as a Labour Party apparatchik,” said Gerald Howarth, an opposition Conservative MP and shadow defense minister.
“He contributed a lot of money to the Labour Party and responds to the Labour whip, but is sufficiently interested in defense that if we required some help, I have little doubt he would respond,” said Howarth, adding that he not spoken to Drayson on the subject.
The Conservatives are currently ahead of Labour in pre-election polling.
Before he resigned in 2007, Drayson built the DIS program which tied contractors into long term relationships on complex weapons and helicopter work. He has now been reappointed as Minister of State for Strategic Defence Acquisition Reform.
“The benefits of the DIS are already manifest in some of the work we have been doing on complex weapons and also in the way we have been managing rotorcrafts,” said Lieutenant General Dick Applegate, Chief of Material (Land) for the UK Defense Equipment and Support Organisation.
“What we have to do is spread that best practise and I am keen to see how that will develop over the next year or so,” added Applegate, who was speaking on the record on the sidelines of a defense conference in London ahead of the DSEi 2009 show in London.
A senior UK-based defense industry official also lent his support to Drayson, adding that the Conservatives would be wise to hire him if they won the election.
“We have every intention of building on DIS 1 – the first implement of the DIS — and of course DIS 2 has never appeared,” said Howarth. “A lot in DIS 1 remains valid and we will seek to build on it. I have a high regard for Lord Drayson who did an excellent job and see no reason to overturn that work.”
Tags: Drayson, procurement
Former UK defense minister throws weight behind Green Paper
September 7th, 2009 | DSEI 2009 | Posted by Tom Kington
Former UK defense minister John Hutton has thrown his weight behind a planned autumn defense Green Paper, which he believes will offer invaluable insight into the UK’s use of fast track procurements for forces in Afghanistan.
In a speech to defense and industry officials in London, which he released for publication, Hutton said he “welcomed” the chance for a “radical and imaginative” paper on reforming defense acquisition in the run up to a planned UK Strategic Defense Review, the first since 1998.
“We need to better understand the long term implications of the Urgent Operational Requirement process for the country’s defence budget going forward. That is why it is important there needs to be a full and proper analysis in the Green Paper of what has worked well and what hasn’t,” said Hutton, who unexpectedly resigned in June.
“Above all, we should always aim to keep the UOR process as simple as possible. We should not be averse to using off the shelf solutions where necessary as these can help reduce costs, create fewer bottlenecks, reduce time to delivery and create greater commonality with our allies,” he said.
“The challenge is to find the way to incorporate the many positive features of UORs into the long term equipment programme whilst avoiding the risk that we try and make UORs look more and more like the long term equipment programme itself.”
Retired Gen. Sir Jack Deverell, a former Commander in Chief of NATO Allied Forces North, warned that UORs could create as well as solve problems.
“The Green paper should see where UORs are creating problems downstream in terms of through life cost, through life maintenance and integration. Complex integration tends to be sidelined,” said Deverell on the sidelines on the conference.
Gerald Howarth, an opposition Conservative MP and shadow defense minister accused the UK government of launching the Green Paper to conceal its inertia in defense planning ahead of next year’s general election.
“They should have done this years ago. It is clearly a panic measure in the dying days of the government. I am not in the least bit hopeful it will produce valuable work,” he said.
Hutton said that regular Strategic Defense Reviews should be henceforth undertaken regularly.
“Our armed forces have some of the best equipment in the world at their disposal. But it also clear that more thinking needs to be done in over such matters such as strategic air lift, UAVs, armoured fighting vehicles, and network capabilities,” he said.
Tags: Green Paper, procurement, UK, UOR