IN A press release on 23 November the Royal Aeronautical Society provided the following comment by Iain McNicoll, Chair of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) Air Power Group on the recently released UK Government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR):
“The Prime Minister’s unveiling of a more strategic, threat-based approach to determining military capability, which can more easily and successfully counter shifting situations and more diverse threats, is welcome.
Ministers have clearly learned a valuable lesson from the resource-driven approach to the 2010 SDSR. The approach set out by the Government five years ago rapidly became obsolete with the emergence of unforeseen threats from so-called Islamic State and a resurgent Russia. The UK faces a very different threat landscape today, with growing instability.
We must avoid becoming prisoners of the present. Only the development of a more flexible, agile and technologically-advanced military, that can be readily and rapidly deployed in times of crisis, will ensure the UK maintains vital national security and influence on international issues whatever the geo-political situation.”
The full comment can be accessed here.
Reprinted from the January 2016 newsletter of the Royal United Services Institute of New South Wales
Comment: This comment from the RAeS is highly relevant for Australia and the forthcoming Defence White Paper, the accompanying Defence Investment Plan, and the Defence Industry Policy Statement. It will not serve Australia well for the DWP to be couched in capability terms based on explicit asset programs. We must always ensure flexibility to adjust to evolving geopolitical imperatives and to adopt new technological opportunities and respond to new threats
A corollary of this observation is the sustainment of the scientific, technological and engineering expertise in country and in partnerships with allies and collaborators to enable the adaptation to occur
Christopher J. Skinner
