Repulse wrote: ↑02 Mar 2024, 16:01
Why should we spend even more to get other European counties to spend more?
If you want a leadership role then you have to have more mass and capability than the others.
The U.K. must retain its 2nd place in the NATO structure perhaps even contributing more to European security in certain areas than the US.
If all European countries paid their way then the would be even less reason for the UK to spend more on NATO.
Poland is spending twice as much as the U.K. now in terms of GDP and Germany is catching up. France is the outlier.
The U.K. must show leadership here.
Everything we do should be aligned to our interests, sounds harsh maybe, but why should we be subsidising rich countries in their own defence?
The US taxpayers are asking themselves that very same question.
Our interests are the North Atlantic and our BOTs - everything else is a choice. We need to be strong and capable enough to be able to defend these interests without over reliance on the US or EU.
Absolutely.
The U.K. needs to leave the land army mass to our continental partners but the U.K. should still retain 3 deployable Divisions. Outside of that it’s RN, RAF and SF that should get the bulk of the extra funding.
I didn’t cover the RAF but my wish list would definitely include more MPAs…..
This should been addressed as part of AUKUS.
Forward basing a SSN in Australia is a massive commitment without filling the gap around the U.K.
Another 5x P8 would have been a good idea to offset the loss.
One thing that should be considered is if more utility can be had from the SSBNs. Especially as four tubes are now to remain empty or contain TLAM on patrol. Could an extra SSBN and a revised operating model give the U.K. 2x SSGN with lots of redundancy for the 3x active SSBN?
Now, what I would say is that it is in our interests to be an enabler, supporting other countries in their fight with tier one capabilities either directly or indirectly. Ukraine is a good example of this.
Totally agree.
Carving out Britains role in Euro NATO if the US starts to withdraw is vital long before discussions on percentage of GDP deliberations.