British government to announce military shake-up

The British government was to announce a shake-up of its armed forces Wednesday, with a round of cuts designed to save money and reshape the military for modern warfare.

Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon was widely expected to tell the House of Commons that he will reduce the number of tanks and warships, and cut personnel in the army, Royal Airforce and Royal Navy.

The shake-up was heralded in a strategy paper released by the government in December.

Hoon said then that he wanted lighter, quicker and more technologically advanced forces to wage war on terrorism and respond quickly to crises around the world. He heralded a move to "effects-based warfare" -- using technology such as unmanned aerial drones, and linking troops in the battle zone by computer -- to maximize accuracy and firepower.

"It has historically been the fashion to measure military capability in terms of the weight of numbers of units or platforms of ships, of tanks and of aircraft," Hoon told the Commons in December.

"That might have been appropriate for the attritional warfare of the past, but in today's environment success will be achieved through an ability to act quickly, accurately and decisively, so as to deliver military effect a the right time."

The shake-up also reflects financial pressures on the Ministry of Defense.

Last week, Treasury chief Gordon Brown gave the ministry a 1.4 percent annual real-terms increase in its budget, but demanded 2.8 billion pounds (US$5.2 billion) in savings on procurement of equipment and back-office support by 2007-2008.

A committee of lawmakers has warned against cuts, saying British forces, on duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Sierre Leone, Kosovo and Northern Ireland, are over-stretched.

"Troops, both regulars and reserves, are already over-stretched. Cutting the number of boots on the ground, ships or aircraft, are not sensible options," Bruce George, chairman of the Commons Defense Select Committee said earlier this month.

Source: Agencies

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