PM’s call to arms will keep our forces fighting fit
THE attempts to tackle Covid-19 have (rightly) been so all-consuming that it is easy to forget that other government departments, policies, budgets and plans exist.
But there was a genuinely good news story last week that puts the UK on the front foot internationally, invests in jobs and training at home and keeps us safer.
That was the Prime Minister’s announcement to boost the UK’s armed forces.
By investing an extra £24 billion over the next four years, the ability of our Army, Navy and Air Force to combat new threats and support international efforts alongside old allies will be increased exponentially.
We already know the professionalism of Britain’s military personnel – they are among the absolute best in the world.
But our ability to recruit, to deploy and counter some of the cyber and guerrilla threats facing our country has not always been beyond doubt.
The Strategic Security and Defence reviews – which profile the sort of kit we order and the number of troops we need – have been spaced so far apart, it can feel like we are always running to catch up.
Last week’s announcement contains an ambition to leapfrog over the pack and lead from the front.
A long, long time ago I served as a reservist with the Royal Signals Regiment. This year is its centenary and its story is instructive about how conflict has changed down those 100 years.
The corps grew out of the Royal Engineer Signal Service in the First World War, where signallers ran telegraph cables in trenches, operated as despatch riders on motorbikes and on horseback, and even used semaphore to relay messages across crowded battlefields.
A move through radio and satellite communications and the Royal Signals are now at the front of the UK’s cyber defences.
Enemies of the West know they don’t have to invade to inflict harm or stockpile long-range missiles to launch an attack. They can disrupt elections digitally, hack into our defence, intelligence or energy networks, even physically send agents to set bombs or target UK citizens in poison strikes. Each of these has happened in recent years.
By announcing a new RAF space command, a commitment to launch our own military satellites, invest in artificial intelligence and multiply driverless vehicles and combat-capable drones, we are seeing a hardheaded approach to future threats, rather than a science fiction view of modern warfare.
WHAT is particularly heartening is that all this money is designed to enhance our greatest asset, rather than replace it. That asset is people and it always has been.
This announcement was slightly sidelined in Scotland behind the infection rates, death toll and new restrictions of Covid. That is, perhaps, understandable.
But be under no illusion how important this is for Scotland.
As well as the 14,000 regular and reserve forces north of the Border, we are home to half of the UK’s Typhoon force and the Royal Navy’s entire submarine service. The eight Type 26 and five Type 31 frigates, whose financing was confirmed last week, are already under construction here and Scotland’s yards at Rosyth and on the Clyde are in pole position to land the new generation Type 32 warship, soon to be tendered.
Confirmation came that the two aircraft carriers that were assembled here will see active service from 2023, while Scotland’s historic regiments were recognised with the Prime Minister directly quashing scaremongering that the Black Watch battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland was under threat.
This matters more than the jobs, investment and security. It shows that we are a reliable security partner in the world. That we will help keep vital shipping lanes open, respond to humanitarian emergencies, combat acts of state and religious terror and – where necessary – enter battle to protect freedom and civilian lives.
The first responsibility of government is the defence of the realm. This announcement not only secured Britain’s defence, but helped to make the world a little safer, too.