‘Military cuts mean Britain will partly partner with US troops’
18 Jan 2014 5:26 AM IST
Britain’s military cuts mean it will no longer be able to be a full partner alongside United States forces, former US defence secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.
Gates, who served under US presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, said Britain no longer had the complete spectrum of capabilities, meaning its relationship with the US military was shifting.
The comments suggest Britain’s military downsizing could have a negative impact on the ‘special relationship’ between Washington and London.
Gates, speaking to BBC radio, highlighted the Royal Navy’s lack of an aircraft carrier able to launch strike jets.
‘What we have always been able to count on, on this side of the Atlantic, were British forces that had full spectrum capabilities very much along the lines of our own forces, that they could perform a variety of different missions,’ Gates said.
‘With the fairly substantial reductions in defence spending in Great Britain what we are finding is they won’t have full spectrum capabilities and the ability to be a full partner as they have been in the past. ‘I also lament that reality.’
Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government announced heavy defence cuts in 2010 as part of its bid to rein in Britain’s massive deficit. The defence budget is being slashed by eight percent over four years.
Between 2010 and 2020, Britain is reducing the size of its regular military from 178,000 to 147,000, while boosting the number of reservists.
Britain has three helicopter landing craft: HMS Illustrious, Ocean and Bulwark.
However, it will not have carrier strike capability until the new aicraft carrier Queen Elizabeth - which will be Britain’s biggest-ever ship on the seas - enters service in 2020 with F35 fighter jets.
Gates said of the lack of carrier strike capability: ‘Those kinds of things, I think, at the end of the day matter.’
This century, Britain has been the United States’ closest partner in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gates, who served under US presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, said Britain no longer had the complete spectrum of capabilities, meaning its relationship with the US military was shifting.
The comments suggest Britain’s military downsizing could have a negative impact on the ‘special relationship’ between Washington and London.
Gates, speaking to BBC radio, highlighted the Royal Navy’s lack of an aircraft carrier able to launch strike jets.
‘What we have always been able to count on, on this side of the Atlantic, were British forces that had full spectrum capabilities very much along the lines of our own forces, that they could perform a variety of different missions,’ Gates said.
‘With the fairly substantial reductions in defence spending in Great Britain what we are finding is they won’t have full spectrum capabilities and the ability to be a full partner as they have been in the past. ‘I also lament that reality.’
Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government announced heavy defence cuts in 2010 as part of its bid to rein in Britain’s massive deficit. The defence budget is being slashed by eight percent over four years.
Between 2010 and 2020, Britain is reducing the size of its regular military from 178,000 to 147,000, while boosting the number of reservists.
Britain has three helicopter landing craft: HMS Illustrious, Ocean and Bulwark.
However, it will not have carrier strike capability until the new aicraft carrier Queen Elizabeth - which will be Britain’s biggest-ever ship on the seas - enters service in 2020 with F35 fighter jets.
Gates said of the lack of carrier strike capability: ‘Those kinds of things, I think, at the end of the day matter.’
This century, Britain has been the United States’ closest partner in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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