Monday, March 22, 2021

UK Miliarism


 Don't be fooled by crocodile tears about the reduction of army numbers and other cuts. The UK is beefing up its military forces for a global role, not defence of these islands.

As part of the military restructure, the Royal Marines will be transformed into a new Future Commando Force, taking on many of the traditional tasks of the special forces - the SAS and SBS (Special Air Service and Special Boat Service).

The force will receive more than £200m of direct investment over the next decade to carry out maritime security operations and to "pre-empt and deter sub-threshold activity, and counter state threats".

Space is another area of investment with the Ministry of Defence to prioritise more than £6.6bn for research and development over the next four years.

  • A £2bn investment in the the Tempest Future Combat Air System over the next four years
  • An increase in drones. Sir Mike Wigston, the head of the RAF, predicted that by 2040, 80% of “planes flying on operations” in combat zones such as Syria and Iraq would “not have a human in them”. 
  • Air chiefs also want to develop “high energy” weapons – a form of laser
  • While a third of the army’s Challenger tanks will be scrapped, the remaining 148 will be upgraded, at a cost of £1.3bn.
  •  £1.5bn to be invested over the next decade to build a "digital backbone" to share and exploit vast amounts of data and the creation of the National Cyber Force.

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