British Armed Forces minister Nick Harvey has revealed that the coming Strategic Defense Review will see the armed forces shrink in size, and focus on quality.
Nick Harvey told an audience at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on Wednesday that Britains armed forces would have less emphasis on weight and more accuracy of firepower.
He warned his audience, at a RUSI naval power conference, which contained many military and government officials, Let me be quite clear change is coming.
The new British coalition government came to power after the inconclusive May 6 general election, which saw the ruling Labor party defeated after 13 years in power.
The Conservatives, the largest polling party, and the third- party in British politics, the Liberal Democrats, formed a coalition which set its principal task as tackling the record public spending deficit, which this year is set to hit 153 billion pounds (about 240 billion U.S. dollars).
The Treasury, the finance ministry, revealed over the weekend that most departments should prepare for budget cuts of up to 40 percent. However defense was told to prepare for cuts of between 10 percent and 25 percent.
Harvey, a Liberal Democrat, ruled out scrapping Britains independent, strategic nuclear weapons system, based on a fleet of Trident submarines. The Conservatives had always been in favor of retaining this and had campaigned for it during the general election. However, the Liberal Democrats had raised the issue of its practicality.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, now the deputy prime minister, had gone so far as to say in public that a nuclear system like Trident which could flatten Moscow at the push of a button was no longer necessary in the 21st century.
Harvey said the shape of the British armed forces would change, reflecting a post-Cold War world.
They will need to be less focused on scale when contributing to multinational operations, with the emphasis moving to quality, said Harvey.
And we should have less duplication of capabilities held in large numbers by our NATO allies, he added.
Speaking at the same conference, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, the professional head of the Royal Navy, said that the navy was looking for closer cooperation with allies, which would save money.
Admiral Stanhope said: Defence is a team game and we need to think in those terms when we consider maritime capabilities, how we develop them, and indeed how we use them in the future.
We also need to pursue enhanced inter-operability with allies and partners, particularly with the United States and also with France and many other maritime forces with whom we operate and exercise regularly.
Two aircraft carriers, the largest vessels yet built for the Royal Navy, are under construction in British dockyards, with delivery of the first 65,000 tonne carrier due in 2015.
The cost of the aircraft carriers and of the aircraft to fly from them, has raised questions, particularly in the current climate of drastic government cuts in budget.
Some commentators have suggested that once constructed a carrier could be shared with France, to cut costs.
A Strategic Defence Review, the first for 12 years, was ordered before the election by the outgoing Labor government. It will decide the future shape and role of the British armed forces, and will be completed shortly.
New defense secretary Liam Fox has ruled that everything is up for reassessment in the Strategic Defence Review, apart from the Trident nuclear weapons system.
Admiral Stanhope put up a robust defense for the importance of the navy in the Strategic Defense Review. He said: Maritime capabilities are not a luxury, they are a necessity. Our ability to control what happens at sea and from sea is fundamental to our national security and prosperity.
Admiral Stanhope piracy, terrorism, drug smuggling and human trafficking were all challenges facing the navy now and in the future as well as defending Britain and making a contribution to international alliances, like NATO.
Admiral Stanhope said: Defending our air and sea space, protecting our overseas territories, contributing to stability in other regions of interest to the U.K. wider international engagement none can sensibly be overlooked.
Harvey and Admiral Stanhope were speaking on the same day that defense secretary Fox announced a further 300 troops would be sent to Afghanistan, to bring the total up to 10,000, and that the British would be replaced in Sangin by the Americans in the autumn.
Prime minister David Cameron had earlier told the House of Commons that he hoped to have British troops out of Afghanistan by 2015.
Source:shiptalk