Thread: BROKE: British tanks to be sent to Germany for storage so army can sell land in UK

British tanks to be sent to Germany for storage so army can sell land in UK

Up to 6,000 military vehicles could be transported overseas so prime site in Gloucestershire can be sold to raise funds

Nick Hopkins

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 February 2012 11.00 EST



British Challenger 2 tanks in Iraq. These and other army vehicles could be sent to Germany. Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian

It has been an awfully long time since British tanks rumbled their way across Europe towards the Rhine – 67 years, in fact.

So the Germans will be intrigued to learn the Ministry of Defence is plotting another push east, albeit an unconventional one that has been forced on it by budget cuts.

Thousands of the British military's tanks, carriers and cars will head across the Channel because of MoD plans to sell off its vast complex at Ashchurch in Gloucestershire. This is where it stores or repairs up to 6,000 vehicles, ready for duty.
The problem of where to put them all when the 72-hectare (178-acre) site is sold has been troubling military planners, who have plumped for Mönchengladbach in western Germany. The city in North-Rhine Westphalia is home to the British-owned Ayrshire barracks.

Whitehall sources hope that moving tanks and other heavy vehicles to Germany will be only a temporary measure, buying time for the MoD to find a more permanent home for them in the UK.

But while the idea might be practical on some levels, insiders at the MoD can see the potential for farce.

The UK is in the process of withdrawing thousands of troops from Germany, at the same time as thousands of military vehicles could be heading in the opposite direction.

There will also be some anxiety about so many of them being relocated outside the UK, where they will not be ready for instant use in any emergency.

"Moving so many vehicles to Germany would be quite a feat, especially any tanks," said David Willey, curator of the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset.

"You can only get one on every loader. Taking them to Germany would be quite expensive, and they need to be kept in a very secure environment because they have systems that the military need to protect."

The sale of Ashchurch is one of the money-making measures the MoD is having to push through to raise cash at a time of budget cuts and redundancy rounds.

The land is a prime spot for property development, and plans are already being developed by the local council.

The site near Tewkesbury has been likened to an enormous garage, where military vehicles are stored and kept ready for action. It is the only storage facility of its type in the UK and has a staff of about 700, made up of military, civilians and contractors.

The most valuable vehicles are kept in a 47,000 sq m super-shed, which has controlled humidity. The UK has 300 Challenger 2 Tanks, and Willey said keeping them in good order was essential – because they are becoming irreplaceable.

"There's no market to make them any more. I hope they will be looked after."

Another source, who asked not to be named, said the idea had caused hoots of laughter when it was first suggested. "It wasn't quite so funny when we realised this could happen," he said.

A spokesman for the MoD said: "The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has been considering the future re-provision of facilities to meet the ongoing operational need at Ashchurch.

"As part of this evaluation a number of options are being assessed that would render Ashchurch operationally surplus.

"Consequently, the DIO has engaged with the local authorities to discuss the future use for the Ashchurch site and the site has been allocated as a potential strategic allocation (should it close), alongside adjoining land to the north for around 2,100 dwellings in the Joint Core Strategy for Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury, which is currently out for public consultation.

"This approach offers us an opportunity to address local needs as well as those of the MOD."

Sources said the MoD would not have to send all 6,000 vehicles to Germany because there were other sites in the UK that might be used.

• This article was amended on 17 February 2012. The original picture showed Chieftan tanks, which are no longer in use. This has been updated with a photo of Challenger 2 tanks.

British tanks to be sent to Germany for storage so army can sell land in UK | UK news | The Guardian

Britain 'may struggle to pay for new fighter jets'

Britain’s Armed Forces may be unable to afford all the new fighter jets they want as American defence cuts and European austerity measures push up the aircraft’s price.


F-35 jet is being built by American weapons giant Lockheed Martin Photo: REUTERS

By Raf Sanchez, in Washington
9:30PM GMT 26 Feb 2012

With the US military delaying purchase of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and Italy slashing its order by more than a third, the Ministry of Defence’s bill for each of the aircraft is set to rise sharply.

Experts warned that the higher prices are likely to mean Britain can afford fewer of the multi-role warplanes, which are due to replace the Harrier on the Navy’s new aircraft carrier by 2020.

The rising cost of the JSF will add to the controversy around Britain’s aircraft carrier capabilities. The 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review retired the Navy’s existing carriers, leaving the UK without a working carrier for a decade.

The JSF, also known as the F-35, is being built by American weapons giant Lockheed Martin as part of an international programme led by the US but partly funded by Britain and seven other ’partner nations’.

The arrangement shares the enormous cost of developing the world’s most advanced aircraft but also leaves Britain dependent on large orders from other countries to keep price down.

Britain is due to place orders for one squadron, around 20 aircraft, next year but will settle on the final number of planes to be bought until in 2015.

Lockheed has admitted that the government is likely to pay even more than the $90 million (£57 million) currently projected as the cost of a single aircraft but could not give an exact figure.

As part of a drive to reduce America’s annual military budget, the Pentagon announced earlier this month that it was delaying purchasing 179 aircraft until after 2017, saving the US $15 billion (£10 billion) over the next five years.

The US was followed almost immediately by Italy, which said that under new austerity measures it could no longer afford the 131 jets it agreed to buy and was reducing its order to just 90. Both Australia and Canada have also signalled they may delay or cut their purchases.

Speaking before Italy announced its reduced order, Lockheed’s executive vice-president Tom Burbage said that the American delay would push up prices for all nations. “It will raise the overall average cost of the total procurement of all the aeroplanes bought,” he said.

Barry Pavel, a former Senior Director for Defence Policy at the White House’s National Security Council, told the Daily Telegraph that the rising costs would likely reduce the number of aircraft Britain eventually buys.

"Britain, along with some other European nations, has a constrained defence budget and as costs go up it seems likely it won’t be able to afford as many planes,” he said.

"It’s going to be really tough for Britain as economic projections remain negative. The government is going to have to cut public spending again and that will cause them to reassess not only the JSF but their broader defence programme.”

Next month the Canadian embassy in Washington will host a meeting of the eight partner nations, where defence attachés are expected to voice their respective governments’ growing alarm over the programme’s cost. A formal summit of all the countries involved will take place in Australia in mid-March.

A spokeswoman said the MoD would not comment on prices until it had confirmed its first order next year.

*"The MoD is taking delivery of our first Joint Strike Fighters for test and evaluation purposes this year and is committed to purchasing the carrier variant of the JSF. Our plans remain on track to have a new carrier strike capability from around 2020,” she said.

Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, met with his American counterpart Leon Panetta in Washington last month, where he raised concerns that the jets would be ready in time for a 2020 deployment on HMS Prince of Wales, Britain’s new aircraft carrier.

The Navy’s first order will be made next year and the aircraft are expected to be operational by 2016. British pilots will train jointly with the US Navy before being posted aboard the carrier.

Britain 'may struggle to pay for new fighter jets' - Telegraph

What these GOOF Balls fail to say... is that the UK has NO Aircraft Carrier's NOW as they put them up for sale

BECAUSE THEY ARE BROKE

B-R-O-K-E

NEVER ENDING WARS COST MONEY

UK Aircraft Carrier For Sale On Internet

Another Ship Sold For Scrap Metal

POSTED: 9:48 am EDT March 28, 2011

LONDON -- For sale: one aircraft carrier, slightly used.

Britain put the mothballed carrier Ark Royal up for sale Monday on a military auction website.

The former flagship of the Royal Navy was decommissioned this month, four years ahead of schedule, as part of defense spending cuts. Bidders have until June 13 to make an offer. No minimum price was set.

The government sold another carrier, HMS Invincible, which was bought for its metal and towed to a Turkish scrap yard.

The Ark Royal could be sold for scrap, but there has also been a proposal to park it on the Thames river as a heliport.

Britain is reducing the army by 7,000 soldiers and slashing billions from its defense budget as part of deficit-reducing cuts.

http://www.wyff4.com/r/27342927/detail.html

NAVY FRIGATE SENT TO WAR - WITH JUST FOUR MISSILES


HMS Westminster, a type-23 frigate, is equipped to carry 32 of the Sea Wolf missiles

Tuesday November 22,2011
By John Ingham

Royal Navy officers said HMS Westminster was “dangerously under-defended” when it was called on to patrol close to the Libyan port city of Benghazi in March.The warship can carry 32 Seawolf and eight Harpoon missiles but it is understood that military cutbacks left the Westminster and its crew of 190 with only a fraction of that capability.


As Seawolf missiles — which are used to intercept incoming missiles — are fired in pairs, sources said the Westminster had just two rounds to defend against missile attacks from Col Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.


In another recent admission, the Royal Navy said it was unable to spare a warship to guard British waters for the whole of October after last year’s defence cuts.


Rear Admiral Chris Parry, a retired officer, said it was unbelievable that the Westminster had so few missiles on board and said ships in the Falklands and the Gulf wars were equipped to full capacity. He added: “This is yet another example of the incoherence of last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review. What if the Government’s bluff had been called? What would the Ministry of Defence be saying if the Westminster had been hit by something? They took a big risk.

“The Government needs to realise there’s only a limited amount you can cut the tail before the teeth fall out.”

Penny Mordaunt, the Conservative MP for Portsmouth North, who is a naval reservist, said: “I am absolutely convinced, and so are other warfare officers I’ve spoken to, that the Westminster would have been in danger.

“We’ve hollowed out the capability to a dangerous level.”

The Ministry of Defence accepted that the Westminster was short of missiles when it sailed to Libya and that it was not replenished at sea. But a spokesman would not confirm or deny claims that the ship had just four missiles in the war zone. Ursula Brennan, the Permanent Under Secretary at the MoD, said: “The assessment of the risk to HMS Westminster would have taken into account the other capabilities that we had in terms of submarines, aircraft and surveillance and so on. The questions will then have been asked, 'In those circumstances, do we think that is a risk worth taking?’ “That is a judgment our operations people take on a daily basis.”

Navy frigate sent to Libya with four missiles - Telegraph

With the US military delaying purchase of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) and Italy slashing its order by more than a third, the Ministry of Defence’s bill for each of the aircraft is set to rise sharply.

and that amazing F-35 John McCain has been pushing is a TURKEY... thats why there are Cutbacks from all countrys... it cant even land on a DAMN Carrier

Can't Turn
Can't Climb
Can't RUN

F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER IS A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN AND YOUR KIDS WOULD END UP FLYING IT INTO BATTLE

DOCUMENTRY ON F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER PART 1



Sep 11, 2010

Military expert Pierre Sprey, the founder and designer of the F-16 & A-10 Warthog airplanes, Explains why the f-35 will not cut it on the modern battlefield.

DOCUMENTRY ON F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER PART 2

Jan 25, 2011

DOCUMENTRY ON F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER PART 3



Sep 11, 2010

Military expert WINSLOW T. WHEELER Explains why the f-35 will not cut it on the modern battlefield.

Read more here about escalating costs to......

http://cdi.org/program/document.cfm?doc ... ersion.cfm

DOCUMENTRY ON F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER PART 4

Sep 11, 2010