Personally I believe the investment in drone technology is very sensible; 12 nuclear submarines is mystifying. They take at least 7 years to build – why? If it is a world nuclear war there is no point anyway? Actually I am disgusted that a Labour PM who cut welfare due to a shortage of money can suddenly find £ billions for weapons of mass destruction.
So back to my original point, it is sensible that we develop drone warfare, especially since Ukraine and Russia have shown its effectiveness. AI also needs to be factored in. And all that costs a lot. So pare down elsewhere. How many actual fully trained troops do we need? Traditional warfare is past – I cannot envisage us sending troops to fight on the ground in traditional style ever again. Commando raids maybe an exception. A while back Gatwick was closed due to drones – was this a MOD exercise? Or maybe MI5/6?
And then the politics – an audacious attack on Labours plans being underfunded came from the conservatives – despite their 14 year tenure being characterised by nothing but corruption and sleaze! What has not been mentioned is a plan to escalate production of weapons etc. if needed. By this I mean developing projects to mothball!
Increasing cadet forces is a nightmare scenario. We train and arm 16 year olds? Fucking madness. Every day in the USA 125 are killed by guns and twice as many injured. 20.000 die from gun attacks every year, the comparable figure for the UK is 29!
Is there a psche at work here that I have missed? Admission time. When I was 16 a friend leant me an air rifle. I woke up one morning to give it a go. I was in my bedroom window and I shot and killed a blackbird. I was fucking devestated – an innocent being that I had killed. Never touched a gun since and never will. But I was 16, how many will find fun in killing, or pretending too?