UK Defence Budget 2012 – Afghan withdrawal gives a budget boost

Forecast spending for 2012 has been lowered as government officials confirm the UK will pull out of Afghanistan by 2014. Army-technology.com details what the UK Budget 2012 will mean for defence.

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With defence spending now firmly falling under the auspices of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), no big surprises were expected from the UK Chancellor's budget speech today as regards personnel and equipment spend.

Budget 2012: comparing defence cost to previous years

Whilst defence spending will decrease from the 2011 figure of £40bn to £39bn in 2012, it will however account for a slightly higher percentage of total governmental spending. Defence will account for 5.71% of national spending, the second highest amount in the last six years, second only to 2010 when it accounted for 5.73%.

This infographic illustrates the rise and fall of the UK's national spend in recent years, detailing the total defence expenditure within the budget and the precise percentage of government spending that is attributed to defence costs.

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UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne did confirm that withdrawing British troops from Afghanistan, due to be completed by 2014, military spending is to be reduced from what was originally planned, saving some £2.4bn.

"The cost of operations - which are funded by the Government's Special Reserve and entirely separate from the defence budget - are expected to be a total of £2.4 billion lower than planned over the remainder of the Parliament," said Osborne.

Budget 2012: taking care of army personnel

Of the savings, £100 million will be used for much-needed improvements to military accommodation. In another move designed to improve living conditions for military personnel and their families, family welfare grants and council tax relief for armed forces members doubled.

Infographic showing the reduction in UK Army trained ground forces 2011 to 2020

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However, this will not prove much comfort for the 22,000 members of who will lose their jobs in the run-up to 2015. In the initial tranche announced last September, 2011, the RAF and Gurkhas were the hardest hit by compulsory redundancies, with 500 airmen losing their jobs alongside 140 soldiers from the 3,500-strong Brigade of Gurkhas.

After 2015 further job losses are likely, as the army has been told to reduce numbers to 82,000 by 2020, which is one-fifth below current numbers, with more Gurkha redundancies expected.

Budget 2012: decisions still pending on F-35B

When the dust has settled on the 2012 Budget, Prime Minister David Cameron will likely announce any important changes to the military equipment purchase plan set out in the SDSR separately. This would include a decision on whether to revert to the F-35B short take off, vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter.

To work with the F25C carrier variation, the second Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales would need to be converted to a catapult assisted take off barrier arrested recovery (CATOBAR) configuration at a cost upwards of £1.8bn. The cost of the carrier programme has reportedly already doubled to £7bn.

Britain and Turkey signed a military cooperation agreement

Turkey and Britain signed a military cooperation agreement during a three-day visit by President Abdullah Gül to London, a news report has said.

The report, which appeared in Jane’s Defence Weekly, said details of the agreement were not available but that it followed the signing of a strategic partnership agreement in Ankara by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his British counterpart, David Cameron, in July 2010. The 2010 agreement commits the two countries to strengthen their defense ties through regular talks and cooperation in defense manufacturing.

The latest agreement was signed on Nov. 23 by British Defense Secretary Phillip Hammond and Deputy Chief of Turkish General Staff Hulusi Akar.

“Turkey is an important ally of the UK and as NATO partners we [the UK and Turkey] are bound by a pledge of collective defense. This bilateral treaty will take our defense co-operation to a new level,” the British Ministry of Defense said after the signing of the accord.

Britain has historically been a significant supplier of military material to Turkey, accounting for 8 percent of Ankara’s military imports since 2000. Current British export efforts in relation to Turkey center on the BAE Systems-led Global Combat Ship (GCS) program, with Ankara seen as a potential partner, according to Jane’s Defence, which described Turkey as one of the world’s fastest growing defense markets.

Britain Denies Troop Cut Claims in Leaked Memo

LONDON - Britain's Ministry of Defence on Nov. 12 denied claims in a leaked memo that up to 16,500 service members - thousands more than originally proposed - faced the axe of budget cuts.

The internal memo seen by The Daily Telegraph also reportedly showed that 2,500 wounded troops, including 350 who have lost limbs, would not be spared in an ongoing string of defense cuts. The MoD dismissed the memo as the "factually incorrect" work of a junior officer and said there were no plans to change the level of cuts to the armed forces set out this year.

It also insisted there had been no change in the way it handled injured personnel, saying they were protected from the cuts until they "reached a point in their recovery where leaving the armed forces is the right decision."

The memo emerged as Defence Minister Philip Hammond flew back from his first visit to troops in Afghanistan and amid preparations for annual national ceremony in honor of the war dead on Nov. 13.

An MoD spokesman said: "The information in this leaked army memo from a junior officer is incorrect. Beyond those already announced, there are no further army reductions planned. There is absolutely no plan to change our treatment of service personnel who are wounded, injured or sick.

"Personnel injured on operations will not be included in the redundancy process while they are undergoing medical treatment. No one will leave the armed forces until they have reached a point in their recovery that is right for them."

Following a defense review last year by the Conservative-led coalition government, the British Army has been told to cut its numbers by almost a fifth to 82,000 by 2020.

In July, Army chiefs warned that an extra 5,000 soldiers faced the axe by 2015, on top of the 7,000 redundancies announced for the first phase, which has already started. The classified document quoted by The Telegraph, sent to commanders in Afghanistan, states that wounded soldiers who have been "temporarily downgraded will not be exempt" and could be dismissed in the next round of job cuts early next year.

Jim Murphy, defense spokesman for the opposition Labour party, warned that an accelerated redundancy program could have "dangerous" consequences and that axing injured troops would be "the cruelest cut of all."

In the past month, six British soldiers have undergone double amputations as a result of injuries caused by the roadside bombs used by the Taliban, which have accounted for many of the 385 British deaths in Afghanistan since 2001.

An officer serving with a unit in which a soldier suffered a triple amputation this month told The Telegraph the memo had badly damaged morale. "We now know that not only will we be left with a life-changing injury serving our country over here but we will more than likely be kicked out of the army," he said.

British Dead And Wounded in Afghanistan

Member of Royal Marines 4 Troop, Bravo Company, 40 Commando at Sangin in preparation for the handover to the Americans at the end of Op Herrick. Photograph: LA(PHOT) Si Ethell/PA

The total number of British troop deaths in Afghanistan now stands at 383, nearing the 400 mark.
According to the latest figures from DASA, 30 UK service personnel have suffered amputations in 2011 so far.



2009 was previously the bloodiest year for British troops in Afghanistan. 2010 nearly caught up. But this year, with the deployment of US troops to Helmand, things have quietened down.



The number of British deaths in Afghanistan is now much higher than Iraq and even the Falklands conflict. These are the numbers of British fatalities for Afghanistan - and Iraq, too - updated as they change.



The British Artillery

Army Firepower - "shock and awe"The Royal Artillery supplies the army's firepower and is as vital on the modern battlefield as it has ever been. The Royal Regiment of Artillery, also known as The Gunners, has lots of it.  We are responsible for 'shock and awe' on the battle field. We are a combat arm and work closely with tanks, infantry and attack helicopters.  We serve aboard ships from the Royal Navy, we also direct attack aircraft of the Royal Air Force to engage our targets.

Royal Artillery TeamIt is important to view the Royal Artillery as a team. We find the enemy with unmanned air systems or radars.  We use digital communications to transmit information and orders.  Our soldiers deliver ammunition and equipment to the front line for our guns, rockets and missiles to hit the target.  All are in the Gunner family.

Retrieved from: http://www.army.mod.uk/artillery/artillery.aspx

British Army Structure

The British Army consists of the General Staff and the deployable Field Army and the Regional Forces that support them, as well as Joint elements that work with the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. The Army carries out tasks given to it by the democratically elected Government of the

United Kingdom (UK).

Its primary task is to help defend the interests of the UK, which consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This may involve service overseas as part of a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) force or any other multi-national deployment. Soldiers may also be deployed on United Nations (UN) operations and used to help in other emergencies.

The regimental system
The increasing demands of imperial expansion together with inefficiencies highlighted during the Napoleonic Wars led to the Cardwell and Childers Reforms of the late 19th century. These gave the British Army its modern shape, and defined its regimental system. The Haldane Reforms of 1907, formally created the Territorial Force which still exists as the Army's volunteer reserve component.

Command structure
The command structure is hierarchical with divisions and brigades responsible for administering groupings of smaller units. Major Units are regiment or battalion-sized with minor units being smaller, either company sized sub-units or platoons. All units within the service are either Regular (full-time) or Territorial Army (part-time), or a combination with sub-units of each type.

Naming conventionsUnit names differ for historical reasons. An infantry regiment is an administrative and ceremonial organisation only and may include several battalions. An infantry battalion is equivalent to a cavalry regiment.  For operational tasks a battle group will be formed around a combat unit, supported by units or sub-units from other areas. Such an example would be a squadron of tanks attached to an armoured infantry battle group, together with a reconnaissance troop, artillery battery and engineering support.

Territorial Army and Reserves
The Territorial Army, or TA as it is usually known, is part of Britain's reserve land forces. Together with the Regular Reserve the TA provides support to the Regular Army at home and overseas.

Retrieved from: http://www.army.mod.uk/structure/structure.aspx