Lasers to become key weapon in UK’S arsenal
Prime Minister launches £24 billion offensive to put Britain among the winners in future warfare
BORIS JOHNSON has unveiled his plan for a single, linked network of Armed Forces that will harness satellites, drones, artificial intelligence and cyber operations to defeat the UK’S enemies.
The Prime Minister pledged that as other nations raced to master “this new doctrine of warfare”, the Government’s £24 billion investment would “place Britain among the winners”.
Lasers
Future warships and combat vehicles will be armed with directed energy weapons that will be able to destroy targets with their “inexhaustible” lasers, Mr Johnson has pledged. He said that in doing so the phrase “out of ammunition” would become redundant as troops would no longer risk running out.
The UK has been increasingly vocal about its adversaries looking to weaponise space and earlier this week the Defence Secretary warned that it was not just “anti-satellite weapons” that the UK had to be wary of, but “groundbased lasers” that could pose “significant threat to our satellites”.
Ben Wallace told The Daily Telegraph that lasers were not “necessarily out of Star Wars”, but could be replicas of bullets that have the ability to “burn out all the sensors”, capable of rendering an unmanned nned aerial vehicle or aircraft “completely etely pointless”.
He added that the UK had spent £100 million n developing laser programmes and d warned the country had “the potential al to do quite a lot of damage to electronics”. onics”.
A defence source reiterated that some high powered owered lasers “could punch holes” ” in satellites from Earth.
Meanwhile, l e, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston,
Chief of the e Air Staff, warned of lasers asers threatening the “peaceful eaceful use of space” and of directed energy weapons ons that can dazzle sensors or damage satellites to the point that they tumble out of stable orbit.
Renewed Navy and nuclear deterrent
Mr Johnson pledged that the extra defence spending would “restore” the UK as the most prominent navy in Europe.
The Telegraph revealed yesterday that the Royal Navy would be one of the biggest winners in the settlement as, with its new funding, it would be able to place orders for 13 frigates.
The Prime Minister said: “We shall use our extra defence spending to restore Britain’s position as the foremost naval power in Europe, taking forward our plans for eight Type 26 and five Type 31 frigates, and support ships to supply our carriers.”
The 13 new frigates will be welcome news to many admirals as it was previously only thought that the Navy would be able to afford eight in total.
They will replace the ageing Type 23 frigates, which have been functioning since the early Nineties and are likely to be retired by 2025.
There will also be a new multi-role research vessel added to the surface fleet and replacement support ships for HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, the two aircraft carriers.
Most significantly it has committed to the next generation of frigates, the Type 32, although the number and size of the new frigate has yet to be announced.
Mr Johnson also made a commitment to the UK’S nuclear deterrent as he insisted “we shall press on with renewing our nuclear deterrent”.
He said that the one policy that strengthened the UK in “every possible sense” was “building more ships for the Royal Navy”.
Although the Navy would have fewer vessels than France – around 80 at any one time – its total tonnage was thought to be greater. The fact that it would be more advanced would make it the most potent in
Europe.
Jobs
The investment in the Royal Navy will also see the UK developing “the next generation of warships,” as well as the “multi- role research vessels and Type 32 frigates”. It led Mr Johnson to declare that the commitment to development would “spur a renaissance of British shipbuilding across the UK”. He cited shipyards in Glasgow and Rosyth, Belfast, Appledore and Birkenhead as he said the new dedication to ships would “guarantee jobs and illuminate the benefits of the Union in the white light of the arc welder’s torch”.
Mr Johnson added: “If there was one policy which strengthens the UK in every possible sense, it is building more ships for the Royal Navy.”
A total of 40,000 jobs will also be created in the aerospace and autonomous vehicles fields as these technologies require civilian applications.
Mr Johnson said that these areas would open up “new vistas of economic progress, creating 10,000 jobs every year”.
New-model army
As warfare moved toward more autonomous fighting, Mr Johnson said the Armed Forces would be remoulded to reflect this. He said: “We shall reshape our Army for the age of networked warfare, allowing better equipped soldiers to deploy more quickly, and strengthening the ability of our Special Forces to operate covertly against our most sophisticated adversaries.”
Earlier this year, The Telegraph reported that the Strategic Command Chief suggested soldiers no longer needed to be in their physical prime in an age of cyber warfare. General Sir Patrick Sanders said tech military were more crucial than ever and personnel would no longer need to fit certain body types nor be subjected to fitness tests.
New fighters and Space Command
‘We shall use our extra defence spending to restore Britain’s position as the foremost naval power in Europe’
Another £1.5 billion is to be invested in military research and development, designed to “master the new technologies of warfare”.
Mr Johnson said a centre dedicated to AI would be established, as well as a new RAF Space Command, which will launch British satellites into space from Scotland in 2022.
Included in this investment will be the Tempest fighter jet, a Uk-led programme to replace the Typhoon from 2035 and can operate by pilot and unmanned.
Mr Johnson said the new system would harness AI and drone technology “to defeat any adversary in air-toair combat”.