Defense Technology International – Timing Is Everything

HMS Invincible will be retired in 2010, Ark Royal in 2014, and Illustrious in 2016 – HMS Queen Elizabeth will enter service at the end of 2015, with the Prince of Wales to follow in 2018. At least that’s the current timetable according to Quentin Davies, the British minister for defense equipment and support

BBC – Cost cuts blamed for Nimrod crash

An independent review into a fatal 2006 Nimrod crash, which killed 14 service personnel, has accused the MoD of sacrificing safety to cut costs.

The Times – Navy surrenders one new aircraft carrier in budget battle

The Royal Navy has agreed to sacrifice one of its two new aircraft carriers to save about £8.2 billion from the defence budget.

BBC – UK navy forces to return to Iraq

British naval personnel are to return to Iraq to train local forces.

Defense Technology International – Almost The Last, Defender

HMS Defender – launched October 21 on the River Clyde in Scotland – would originally not even have marked the half-way point in the Type 45 destroyer program. Today the ship is the last but one of the class being bought by the Royal Navy.

Defense Technology International – Naval Ratings

In an example of how the British military is being forced to take capability “holidays” resulting from the operational pressures of Afghanistan, the British Army has just carried out Apache Deck training with HMS Ocean for the first time since 2005.

Economist – Nuclear Deterrent: Subtraction

Britain’s nuclear-submarine fleet may shrink.

The Times – Cutbacks for both the Royal Navy and the RAF

The Royal Navy and the RAF have been ordered to cut right back on all unnecessary spending in order to ensure that defence spending is focused entirely on Afghanistan.

UK Ministry of Defence – Royal Navy Sea Kings ‘bag’ intelligence over Helmand

The Royal Navy’s unique airborne surveillance and control helicopters, known as ‘Baggers’, have recently deployed to Helmand in Afganistan for the first time, where they are detecting, following and intercepting insurgent activity.

(Thanks to Justin for the pointer…)

BBC – Navy seizes cocaine ‘worth £240m’

The Royal Navy says it has seized its largest haul of cocaine, with an estimated street value of £240m.

New York Review of Books – A Black and Disgraceful Site

A review of the book “Island of Shame: The Secret History of the US Military Base on Diego Garcia.” An interesting take on the history of Diego Garcia as a US base in the Indian Ocean.

The Times – Britain’s nuclear overture – we will cut Trident fleet

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is preparing to surrender one of Britain’s four Trident submarines to help to cut nuclear arsenals around the world.

Daily Telegraph – Dauntless task for Scottish shipbuilders on the Clyde

Standing in the shadow of the enormous steel bulk of Defender, the latest Type 45 destroyer to be built on the Clyde and looking across the river, the windows of blocks and blocks of newly-finished luxury flats wink back from the opposite bank. The river is narrow here but the two sides demonstrate the gulf between what Glasgow – and Britain’s – economy was and what it has become.

BBC – Navy carriers ‘£1bn over budget’

A £1bn cost over-run is threatening the future of the publicly-funded project to build Britain’s biggest aircraft carriers.

Daily Telegraph – Royal Navy destroyer goes into service without missile system

A state of the art Royal Navy destroyer is to enter service without its vital missile system working in a move branded as “disgraceful” by a committee of MPs.

The Times – Super-destroyer to guard 2012 Games

The Royal Navy is on standby to deploy the world’s most advanced destroyer to protect the 2012 Olympics from a 9/11-style attack. Security chiefs are drawing up plans to moor one of the navy’s new Daring class of Type 45 destroyers in the Thames estuary. The ship, which boasts a sophisticated antiair missile system, would be ready to shoot down hijacked aircraft or small passenger jets flown towards London or the Olympic site by terrorists.

BBC – UK ‘at risk of sea-borne attack’

Britain is vulnerable to terrorist attack from the sea because no single body is responsible for protecting the UK’s coast, MPs have warned.

Daily Telegraph – Britain and Argentina lodge rival claims to seabed around Falklands

Britain and Argentina have lodged competing claims for 460,000 square miles of seabed around the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.

Daily Telegraph – New Royal Navy frigates to be based at Portsmouth

The next generation of frigates are to be based at Portsmouth Naval Base as part of a major shake-up of the Royal Navy announced by the Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth.

Defense Technology International – Audacious Statement

Building the fourth of what is now anticipated to be a seven-boat Astute-class submarine fleet is now underway. First delivery of the class – delayed by around four years – has yet to be confirmed.

BBC – Sub deaths caused by ‘failures’

An explosion which killed two British submariners was caused by “systemic failures”, a coroner has ruled.

BBC – Somali pirate patrol: Day five

In the fifth instalment of his diary from the ship’s deck, the BBC’s correspondent asks whether such patrols can succeed in the troubled region.

BBC – Somali pirate patrol

The BBC’s Jonah Fisher has joined British Royal Navy frigate HMS Northumberland as it patrols the Gulf of Aden in an EU taskforce to deter Somali pirates. This is his fourth entry. The first three are at the bottom of the article…

Daily Telegraph – Harrier dispute between Navy and RAF chiefs sees Army ‘marriage counsellor’ called in

The Defence Secretary John Hutton has been forced to call in an Army general to act as a “marriage counsellor” to resolve a bitter dispute between the heads of the Royal Navy and RAF over the future of the Harrier jump jet.

Economist – Losing their way?

A realistic analysis of the current state of affairs of the British military: The British army suffers from lack of soldiers, lack of money and lack of conviction

Economist – Overstretched, overwhelmed and over there

Seven years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan have exposed Britain’s military failings. It can and must do better.