20 January 2010: Scotsman
THE head of the Royal Navy has fired a broadside at his army counterpart over claims that ground troops deserved a bigger share of resources as they were doing most of the fighting in conflicts such as Afghanistan.
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope laid out his justification for continued spending on the navy in the face of threatened defence cuts – and warned General Sir David Richards, head of the army, that all the armed forces had to pull together.
Admiral Stanhope insisted support for what have been dubbed the navy's "supercarriers" – costing £5 billion – would benefit all the services.
He said: "We have got to be clear that the requirement for the carriers is part of a joint requirement for defence as a whole, and the effect they provide is a joint effect, not a maritime effect in isolation."
With both the Conservatives and Labour committed to a strategic defence review if they win the next election – and neither promising to ring-fence Ministry of Defence spending – military chiefs are setting out their pleas for resources.
The supercarriers and the Royal Air Force's fast jets were seized on by Gen Richards this week as he called for politicians to divert resources to more troops on the ground, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism instead.
Addressing the International Institute for Strategic Studies on Monday, Gen Richards said "we have to take a risk" in ditching advanced weaponry.
Too much emphasis was put on "hugely expensive equipment" such as advanced jet fighters, he declared.
But Admiral Stanhope yesterday called for leaders to think strategically and look beyond the immediate future.
"For now, Afghanistan remains our main effort. But at the same time, the world is an uncertain place, characterised by a variety of current and future trends that can quickly generate new threats to our security and the UK's wider national interest," he said.
"We must, I would contend, always be prepared to deal with those challenges and protect our interests wherever we can."
His remarks came in a speech to a defence business audience.
Britain should be prepared for "surprises and strategic shocks", he said, citing the Falklands war as such an event. "It came in from the left field," he said.
Admiral Stanhope also warned against watering down the Trident nuclear deterrent, saying: "Our submarine-based strategic nuclear deterrent, now deployed without a break for 41 years, continues to deliver the ultimate security guarantee of our nation."
The so-called "soft power" work of the armed forces – in areas such as humanitarian missions and peacekeeping – depended on the "underpinning credibility" of "hard power" or the ability to fight and win wars.
And despite his defence of costly equipment, he insisted that "much" of what Gen Richards had said "resonated" with his own speech. He said: "Whilst there is a desire to see a split between us and indeed, if I may say so, a frenzy of 'chiefs again at loggerheads', we are not. What we are trying to do is pursue a clear, well-articulated debate about what defence needs."
Britain's defence was "intimately tied to Britain's wider position of influence in the world … it is far more than an insurance against future crisis," he said.
There has been resentment, however, that the three costliest defence projects are for the navy and the RAF.
