Hoon outlines plans for mobile, flexible military
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has this afternoon announced plans for reorganising the armed forces – including a dramatic reduction in the number of heavy armoured units in favour of mobile rapid reaction capabilities.
“This is a changing world and we must adapt if our armed forces are to stay ahead of potential adversaries”, Mr Hoon told the Commons as he launched the Defence White Paper.
In the future, he explained, British armed forces would be expected to engage in “multiple, concurrent small to medium sized” missions, rather than large-scale protracted wars.
To respond to the new strategic situation, Mr Hoon declared that the Government plans to reduce the number of Army armoured brigades from three to two, and introduce a new light brigade.
The new capabilities of the Eurofighter Typhoon and Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, moreover, would reduce the number of aircraft required for deployment, Mr Hoon contended.
The White Paper also proposes the decommissioning of some older warships.
“Technology will be a key driver for change”, the Defence Secretary argued, insisting that in future, military capability will be measured not in terms of manpower and equipment but rather in capacity to deploy quickly and flexibly.
On the Iraq war, Mr Hoon declared that it was a “significant military success”.
Responding to the statement, Conservative defence spokesperson Nicholas Soames warned “We under-estimate at our peril the importance of the foot soldier”, while his Liberal Democrat counterpart Paul Keetch argued “The focus on effects-based operations is welcome, but it must not come at the expense of troop numbers.”
