New aircraft carriers not enough to defend UK’s interests, MP says
Britain projected itself as a global security player with its new aircraft carriers, but defence experts are doubtful the vessels can fulfil their promised role.
In a demonstration of the capability that the HMS Queen Elizabeth can bring to bear around the world, London revealed this week that F35B Lightning fighter jets would be used against ISIS.
At the same time, the chairman of the Commons Defence Committee told The National that the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers would not be a potent force unless Britain doubled its number of warships.
Tobias Ellwood suggested that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s
government failed to recognise the threats “coming over the horizon” that make the world “arguably more dangerous than during the Cold War – yet we’re still on a peacetime defence budget”.
The British MP said that while the government projected the country’s power in words, this was not matched by strength in numbers.
The government’s promise of £4 billion ($5.56bn) extra a year in defence spending over the next four years is not enough for Britain’s military to meet the international threats it faces, he said.
Even with the extra resources, shortages are a fact of life. Military estimates put warship availability at one third of the total number owing to training and refits, meaning that Britain would have six available out of its fleet of 18.
With four navy warships set to form a carrier strike group in the Pacific, only two warships are available to defend home waters and participate in Nato operations in the Baltic, Black Sea and Mediterranean.
There will also be little capacity to defend allies in the Gulf and Caribbean, or British interests.
The navy is forced to rely on its allies for extra protection on the missions themselves. The US and the Dutch are sending vessels to operate alongside the Queen Elizabeth in the coming months.
This raises the risk of not having direct control of the fleet’s size. Mr Ellwood, a member of the ruling Conservative Party, said the 2011 maritime operations off Libya showed “not everybody turns out for the fight”.
He listed the main threats as Russia, China and growing extremism in Africa and the Middle East, alongside the new challenges in cyber space.
“The Royal Navy will be overstretched to provide the necessary force protection around the world,” he said.
China has two aircraft carriers and a surface fleet of more than 300 warships.
The Royal Nay must increase its fleet to 36 if Britain’s vision of becoming a global sea power are to be fulfilled, he said.
“We have look to a new model of ship, which is seen as a mother ship that can take maritime drones, and we have to have far greater numbers for a more enhanced maritime presence,” Mr Ellwood said.