David Cameron, the Prime Minister, has disclosed that 42,000 defence jobs in Britain will go as part of 8 per cent budget cuts in the strategic defence review. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...view-David-Cameron-says-42000-jobs-to-go.html Bloodbath...
Recent veterans of the war in Afghanistan are understood to be at risk of redundancy, as 7,000 jobs go in the Army; 5,000 in the Royal Navy; 5,000 in the Royal Air Force; and 25,000 civilian jobs at the Ministry of Defence. In terms of equipment, the RAF will lose the Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft programme, the entire Harrier jump-jet fleet will be scrapped, and bases will be turned over to the Army. The Army will have its tanks and heavy artillery cut by 40%, and half of the soldiers in Germany will return to the UK by 2015, with the rest brought home by 2030 and housed in former RAF bases. The Navy will have its destroyer fleet cut from 23 to 19 and will be provided with less expensive frigates. It will also be affected by the loss of the Harriers. Overall, the defence budget is to be cut by 8% but Mr Cameron insisted that Britain would continue to meet the Nato target of spending 2% of GDP on defence.