In Britain the Royal Navy is known as the senior service but like a senior member of any family unit is seen by the youngest and fittest, the Royal Air Force, as old, infirm and doddery. The Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy have a history. A history of mistrust and loathing and what fuels this is the lifeblood of any military organization, government funding and understanding of each services purpose.
The Royal Air Force in 2008 celebrated its 100th anniversary and yet since the Second World War has not seen sustained front line combat, except for a brief period in the Falklands War of 1982 and in the first Gulf War of 1991. In the same period, the Royal Navy fighters flying from aircraft carriers have been on average involved in conflicts ranging from Suez in 1956, Borneo, Malaya, Korea, Falklands, Gulf War 1 and 2 and in the Balkans conflict.
British Military Spending At An All Time Low
The Labour Government under Tony Blair, spent less on defense than any British Government in recent history and his successor Gordon Brown has seen that situation maintained. When money is tight, as it is now, the leaders of the British military triad, Army, Navy and Air Force, quarrel and complain privately and spit envious comments in public about the others prized projects. Each side in this Second English Civil War, are fighting like dogs over scraps of finance drip fed by a Labour Government who are intent on fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but without the finance to accomplish the ends. Labour Ministers and politician's spout TV friendly soundbites about providing the armed forces with what is necessary and all the time the front line is lacking helicopters (mostly Royal Navy units), body armor and communication equipment. The British soldier is in today’s battlefield one of the best trained and least provided for soldier of any of the Allied forces in the Middle East conflict zones. This despite the Labour Government stripping-away the resources at the tail of the beast to keep the teeth shiny and clean, if only questionably effective.
Which of the British services have suffered the most in terms of material loss, excluding the loss of soldiers, sailors and airmen. The Royal Air Force lost a Nimrod surveillance aircraft, due to an inflight malfunction, itself caused by a lack of money to correct the problem whilst on the ground. Fourteen crewmen died, the British Army has lost men, machines and is suffering from extending itself too thinly to achieve questionable gains.
British Military Withdrawal From Iraq
With the imminent withdrawal of British forces from Iraq, some of the pressure on the Army and Air Force will be lessened, but these forces are likely to, in due course be, redeployed into Afghanistan, out of the pan and into the fires of Hellman Province.
So what have been the Royal Navy losses? Being a maritime force Afghanistan is out of area. For ships maybe but not the Royal Navy’s force of helicopters, which are being tasked extremely heavily and is eating into the precious airframe life of these expensive and hard to replace machines. To be fair the Royal Air Force has a force of helicopters in the region too, including Chinock heavy lift machines. The Royal Navy’s losses are, however, considerable. To pay for the Labour Government’s two wars the Royal Navy has over the last six years lost an aircraft carrier, three nuclear submarines, five destroyers, three frigates, four mine counter measures vessels plus at least ten auxiliaries. Only a handful of new vessels have been ordered and the replacement for the Invincible class aircraft carriers, the Queen Elizabeth class, have been postponed for an average of two years.
In June 2009, the Royal Air Force chief waded into the argument stating that he foresaw a time in the near future when all naval aviation would be controlled by the Royal Air Force. A similar situation occurred in 1939 and the Royal Navy was left operating biplanes as the Royal Air Force operated the latest Spitfires and Hurricanes. A proposal in 1966 to build new aircraft carriers of the CVA-01 class saw the Air Force seeing red and the project was canceled crippling the Royal Navy for the next thirty years. Will the RAF stick the knife into the Royal Navy once again in 2009?
If the Royal Air Force wants to survive in its current form, they undoubtedly will take a stiletto and ram it right into the heart of the Royal Navy under the eyes of the Labour Government who the outgoing First Sea Lord Sir Jonathan Band declared has a ‘sea blindness’. This sea blindness has an historic precedent, the British Governments of the 1930’s who withheld investment in the armed forces believing that Hitler was an honorable man who they could do business with. Will history repeat itself again in 2009?
