Royal Navy ‘dangerously weak
Royal Navy ‘dangerously weak.
Royal Navy ‘dangerously weak’: ePolitix.com
The Royal Navy needs to expand its fleet of frigates in order to maintain security, according to the Royal United Services Institute.
A report published today by the defence and security think-tank argues that past underfunding and current extreme financial pressures will leave the fleet “dangerously weak” and inadequate for the task of safeguarding trade routes from pirates, terrorists or non-friendly governments.
“No one associates the full supermarket shelves, the availability of a range of other goods and the supply of fuels to power our homes, cars and industry with the free flow of sea trade,” the report observes.
“The free flow that makes globalised trade and the creation of prosperity possible depends prominently upon the presence of naval units at sea, unseen and silent and therefore easily forgotten.”
The reports authors, vice-admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham and professor Gwyn Prins, warn that unless the problem is addressed in the next ten years the navy will be left with only nineteen frigates.
And the paper argues the navy needs at least ten new cheaper frigates to help patrol major sea routes. “”Every trading nation is necessarily a maritime nation,” the report says.”And maritime presence demands numbers”.
“Any trading nation has a critical interest in the secure use of the seas and the preservation of good order at sea… The dependence of the West, but especially of Britain, on use of the sea for its survival and prosperity is a geopolitical fact of life,” write Blackham and Prins.
The report comes as the Ministry of Defence grapples with making the significant spending cuts demanded by the Treasury.
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