You can balance and support a sustainable build sequence without doing what you suggest.Poiuytrewq wrote: ↑28 Sep 2023, 09:13That sounds like feast and famine. Maintaining a sovereign shipbuilding capability is not a discretionary spend unless supporting the shipbuilders is less important than supporting the aviation industry. Without a regular drumbeat efficiency will not improve. A proper industrial strategy that is fully funded over the longer term is crucial.
The fact remains that the majority of the fleet is nearing replacement. The shipbuilding sector is rejuvenated but it must now be supported.
If 4% of the UK defence budget can’t be earmarked for construction of ships and submarines clearly the priorities are all wrong.
No argument but the fleet can’t be balanced with the CASD, CSG and SSN’s alone.As for the submarine fleets it is imo the only peer war fighting asset that is survivable and the principle asset we would contribute to a war with China if it ever happened subs and stand-off weapons.
There are many other reasons to have a balanced surface fleet apart from preparing for a conflict with a peer.
That’s great but the equipment budget is rising again in 2023/2024 and stabilising at over £20bn per annum. That’s an increase of over £4bn more each year when compared with the pre Covid 2015 to 2020 period.The rest would largely be defensive in nature and by that I mean used to stop china/Russia taking territory we already have and for contributing to maintaining the peace. I would allocate budget accordingly.
Therefore the entire annual shipbuilding requirement for surface vessels of £1.2bn is only around 25% of the recent increase in spending on equipment.
In overall terms that amounts to around 6% of the annual equipment budget.
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Are you suggesting this is still too much?
I’m not suggesting current spend is too much but the equipment budget is more than just buying hulls. There isn’t a definitive allocation available for future years and their certainty isn’t a definition around programs projected beyond the current 10 year budget horizon like most mentioned here never mind multiple changes of government.