UK Defence Forum

shark bait wrote:Where have you got that image from, the fex deck on an Absalon is not big enough to fit a Merlin.

ArmChairCivvy wrote:

Repulse wrote:At best we are talking Brigade level ops, but more likely RM Cdo/Army battlegroup level expeditionary ops.

Repulse wrote:this kind of strategic projection capability when the carriers are fully operational.” I count only two currently that will be able to do this on a global basis 100% of the time.

Ron5 wrote:India

Repulse wrote:“We will be one of only about I think six countries in the world that has this kind of strategic projection capability when the carriers are fully operational.”

ArmChairCivvy wrote:

Ron5 wrote:India

Repulse wrote:“We will be one of only about I think six countries in the world that has this kind of strategic projection capability when the carriers are fully operational.”

Are we counting carriers or talking about capability for strategic projection?

Ron5 wrote:How on earth a lifetime civil servant can become UK security advisor

(Sir MArk) Sedwill joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1989 and he served in the Security Coordination Department and the Gulf War Emergency Unit until 1991.

He was then posted in Cairo, Egypt, from 1991 to 1994 as a Second Secretary, then First Secretary in Iraq from 1996 to 1997 whilst serving as a United Nations weapons inspector, then in Nicosia, Cyprus, as First Secretary for Political-Military Affairs and Counterterrorism from 1997 to 1999. He was the Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Robin Cook and Jack Straw) from 2000 to 2002 in the runup to and preparations for the 2003 Iraq invasion.[2]

He then served as the Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan, based in Islamabad from 2003 to 2005, then the Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Foreign Office. From 2006 to 2008, he served as International Director of the UK Border Agency.[2][5]

Afghanistan ambassador and NATO roles
In April 2009, Sedwill became the Ambassador to Afghanistan, succeeding Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles. In January 2010, he was additionally appointed as NATO's Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan,[6][7] to be the civilian counterpart to the ISAF Commander, U.S. General Stanley A. McChrystal and then U.S. General David H. Petraeus. He was succeeded as ambassador temporarily by his predecessor, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, and then by Sir William Patey, formerly British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.[2]

In May 2011, Sedwill took over as the FCO's Director-General for Afghanistan and Pakistan (and thus as the UK's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan) from Karen Pierce CMG. He additionally became the FCO's Director-General, Political in Autumn 2012, replacing Sir Geoffrey Adams.

Home Office
On 9 January 2013, it was announced that Sedwill was to become the next Permanent Secretary at the Home Office filling the vacancy left by Dame Helen Ghosh from 1 February 2013.[3] As of 2015, Sedwill was paid a salary of between £180,000 and £184,999, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.[8]

National Security Adviser
On 27 February 2017, it was announced that Sedwill is to replace Sir Mark Lyall Grant as National Security Adviser in the Cabinet Office from April.

John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American diplomat and attorney who serves as the National Security Advisor of the United States. He began his tenure as National Security Advisor on April 9, 2018.[6] Bolton served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 to December 2006 as a recess appointee by President George W. Bush.[7] He resigned at the end of his recess appointment in December 2006[8][9] because he was unlikely to win confirmation from then newly-elected Democratic-party-majority Senate.[10][11]

Bolton is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI),[12] senior advisor for Freedom Capital Investment Management,[13] a Fox News Channel commentator, and of counsel to the Washington, D.C. law firm Kirkland & Ellis.[14] He was a foreign policy adviser to 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney.[15] Bolton is also involved with a number of politically conservative think tanks, policy institutes and special interest groups, including the Institute of East-West Dynamics, the National Rifle Association, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Project for the New American Century, Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf, the Council for National Policy, and the Gatestone Institute,[16] where he served as the organization Chairman until March 2018.[17]

Ron5 wrote:He's even suggested publicly that the military should be used to fight crime. Not even in the fun way like the Philippines.

indeid wrote:I don't see the issue with the CV of Sir Mark as NSA?

Wayne David

I thank the Minister for his generosity. He talks about cuts, but I would argue that the position is not quite as he painted. Can I infer from what he has said that HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark are now safe?

Guto Bebb

The hon. Gentleman should be aware that HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark are safe until 2033 and 2034, which is the current situation. Those are the decommissioning dates for both vessels.

Tempest414 wrote:HMG is planning on spending 63 billion pounds on the RN over the next 10 years

The hon. Gentleman should be aware that HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark are safe until 2033 and 2034, which is the current situation.

Gabriele wrote:

The hon. Gentleman should be aware that HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark are safe until 2033 and 2034, which is the current situation.

Key part of the phrase, that makes it completely worthless.