The War In Ukraine: The Arsenal Of Democracy

 

 

Picture: Corporal Jamie Peters,Royal Logistics Corps,Crown Copyright

 

Armies do not win wars,industries do,unfortunately a generation of senior British Army officers has been allowed to destroy the United Kingdom's,once war winning,ground combat industry,which is why the Prime Minister now has to beg for permission to send foreign made military equipment to Ukraine,to be the arsenal of democracy one must first possess an arsenal.

 

An Independent Army For An Independent Nation: Ukraine,The Sixteenth of February,Twenty Twenty-one

  

 

Picture: Ben Shread,Crown Copyright

  

At this very moment,the United Kingdom's Prime Minister may be wondering why the British Army is unable to deploy a credible fighting formation to Eastern Europe,despite consuming the bulk of the defence budget,indeed,it is difficult to think of any conflict for which it was ever well prepared,herein we shall consider the options which would have been available with An Independent Army For An Independent Nation,a proposed force which does not exist at present but which could have been created within the current defence budget.

  

 

Picture: Sergeant Morris,Number Five Army Film and Photo Section,Army Film and Photographic Unit,© IWM B 11541

 

As expansion and contraction are normal states for an armed force,An Independent Army For An Independent Nation is designed to expand and contract and has changed only in scale over three decades,in stark contrast,the British Army suffers frequent radical disorganisations which reflect not changes in the enemy,the battlefield or technology but rather the prejudices of which ever senior officer is in post at the time,an indication that the army has the institutional memory of a goldfish.

  

 

Picture: P.O. Roger Ryan,Ministry of Defence Collection photograph

 

An Independent Army For An Independent Nation shall be divided in to four ordinals (for want of a better word) only the first of which shall be available at short notice and this shall consist of the youngest soldiers and the newest equipment,soldiers recently retired from the First Ordinal shall join the Second Ordinal where they shall be issued with equipment also recently retired from the First Ordinal and therefore shall be serving with men and equipment they are familiar with,equipment which would otherwise be sold off for a fraction of it's replacement cost,for every soldier joining the Second Ordinal another shall be displaced from the Second Ordinal to the Third Ordinal and so on until discharge.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Royal Archives Windsor Collection photograph,© IWM Q 71226

  

All soldiers shall be members of administrative regiments which in turn shall be part of administrative corps (the Intelligence Corps,the Royal Flying Corps,the Command Corps et ceteri),members of regular or Fencible regiments in the First Ordinal shall serve full time but members of Militia,Yeomanry and Volunteer regiments,who shall make up about a quarter of the total force,shall only serve part time,in the Second,Third and Fourth Ordinals all soldiers shall be mustered only once a year for roll call,pay,training,testing,inspection and parade,unless mobilised by Queen's Order,a process which shall take six,nine or twelve months respectively.

 

  

Picture: Unknown Australian official photographer,Australian First World War Official Exchange Collection photograph,© IWM E (AUS) 3929

  

There shall be three operational field army headquarters in the First Ordinal,each commanded by a full general,such that under the proposed readiness cycle one may at all times be deployed or ready to deploy whilst a second commands domestic troops,subordinate to these armies being numbered field corps consisting of homogeneous role (infantry,light infantry,cavalry,artillery et ceteri) or mixed close combat,headquarters or train divisions each typically including a headquarters brigade,a train brigade and a number of role brigades which shall be in turn made up of battalions,each made up of companies,squadrons or batteries,each made up of platoons or troops,each of up to forty men drawn from various administrative regiments.

 

  

Picture: P.O. Owen Cooban,Crown Copyright

 

Under the terms of An Independent Army For An Independent Nation's proposed readiness cycle one third of the deployable regular First Ordinal force may be continuously deployed or ready to deploy,this shall typically include a small corps consisting of a composite division of corps and army troops and a mixed close combat division with a headquarters brigade,a train brigade,a cavalry brigade,a light infantry brigade and a medium infantry brigade and for a limited time this force may be doubled in size,with ninety days notice,by using part time soldiers to take over the regular's domestic standby tasks,the remaining third of the deployable force shall also be available at longer notice if need be.

  

  

Picture: Unknown photographer,Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation photograph

  

Thus,depending of how soon or how late the Prime Minister chooses to act the First Ordinal of An Independent Army For An Independent Nation shall be able to deploy an army of one small composite corps with a single close combat division which may be sustained there indefinitely or,for a limited period,an army of several corps with several close combat divisions,in each case with equipment which out classes anything in Russian service,such as the Charger and Matilda vehicles,and with the full spectrum of corps and army troops including Royal Flying Corps squadrons (and which may be supplemented by Royal Naval Air Service air wings and Royal Marines),given sufficient notice this latter force may be doubled,tripled or even quadrupled,albeit at a lower quality,by calling up one or more of the other ordinals,the possibility of such a large British army rampaging through the Donbas shall send a strong political message to the Kremlin.

  

 

Picture: Staff Sergeant S.Scott,British Army official photographer,© IWM 1DIV-03-008-0024

  

Whatever the force size may be,all elements of it shall be able to deploy to Ukraine directly by air using the Centaurus aircraft,the small fleet of which shall be able to air drop the ready brigade of the Light Infantry Division in a single lift,via the Channel Tunnel using railways or by sea via Poland using the proposed Agincourt class landing ships,a number of which shall be routinely loaded with the equipment and supplies of a brigade (although pertinent only in the case of a short notice operation,the Light Infantry formations may be more rapidly deployed than Medium Infantry or Heavy Cavalry formations but,like formations equipped with the Ajax and Boxer vehicles,they shall be unsuitable for tactically offensive operations against Russian armoured and infantry forces due to their limited protection and fire power).

  

  

Picture: Unknown photographer,Ministry of Information Photo Division photograph,© IWM D 4501

  

The United Kingdom's most important military asset is it's civilian economy which generates the resources needed to fight a war,it is the defence industry which converts those resources in to the machines which win the war,the army is just the people who operate those machines,the last link in the kill chain (and historically the least successful,most expensive and least profitable link),An Independent Army For An Independent Nation therefore prioritises the nation's economy and defence industries over the whims of senior army officers.

  

 

Picture: Andrew Linnett,Crown Copyright

 

Since the abolition of the ancient post of Master-General of the Ordnance,which existed for hundreds of years for good reason,the British Army has squandered thousands of millions of pounds on the Ajax fiasco,which is hardly surprising as army officers are just civilians who have been on a short training course and history suggests they know little about warfare and even less about design and manufacture,but by creating a Secretary of State for Ordnance (advised by a Board of Ordnance led by a Master-General of the Ordnance and made up of professional Ordnance Corps officers expert in all matters relating to design,manufacture,storage,construction,maintenance,purchase and contracting),as a cabinet level position alongside the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Secretary of State for War,representing an Ordnance Office independent of the Admiralty Office and War Office,to oversee Royal Ordnance Factories,Royal Ordnance Depots and other facilities,army officers shall be confined to meddling in things which they might know a little about,whatever those may be.

 

  

Picture: Ernest Milner,© IWM HU 96424 

 

The Royal Ordnance Factories and also the Royal Dockyards,which shall manufacture ordnance,equipment and supplies (such as the Quarter Inch Rifle,the Three Inch Mortar,the Four Inch Mortar,the Six Inch Rocket,the Five And A Half Inch Gun Howitzer,the Ballistic Artillery Rocket,the Ox,the Mule,the Pony,the Horse and the Elephant),shall be able to double production by temporarily working single set double shifts while a second set is recruited and trained,a process facilitated by increased numbers permitting greater specialisation,a nation which has the capacity to supply it's own armed forces shall also be better able to provide help to others.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,General Sir Peter Edgar de la Cour de la Billière Collection photograph,© IWM GLF 1278

  

Thus,at the start of the recent crisis,in November,An Independent Army For An Independent Nation shall have provided the Prime Minister with the option of deploying a small but well equipped army of tens of thousands of men at short notice and of sustaining it continuously,now,several months later the Prime Minister would have the option of doubling the size of that force and sustaining that for many months,in future there would be the possibility of deploying the remaining third of the deployable First Ordinal force or of mobilising the remaining three ordinals to deploy a force of hundreds of thousands of men,in addition to supplying Ukraine with British made weapons,equipment and supplies,all without the need to seek the consent of foreign governments and with all of the money spent being fed straight back in to the United Kingdom's economy.

 

Member Of Parliament Opens His Eyes

This blog is not about politics.

But as European integration is the driving force behind the British Government's defence policy it is difficult to ignore it.

It is also difficult to ignore the fact that many in the British political and military establishment seem to have little idea that British defence policy is largely driven by the European Union.

Conservative Member of Parliament Douglas Carswell has been mentioned on this blog in an earlier post.

Mr.Carswell appears to be under the misapprehension that the British government follows a "buy British" defence procurement policy.

Even though it has for many years been following an avowedly "buy European" policy in line with European Union policy and at the cost of thousands of British jobs.

He also seems to think that the planned sharing of British and French aircraft carriers is the result of this "buy British" policy rather than a deliberate decision by the British government to participate in the creation of a pan-European naval force.

Military independence and political independence are indivisible.

Which is why independent nations try to buy domestically wherever it is practical.

Having surrendered the largest empire the World had ever seen as a result of inadequate security of supply,the British government should understand this better than most.

Without security of supply Britain does not have military independence.

Without military independence Britain does not have political independence.


Without political independence the British government cannot further the interests of the British people.

Which is why the European Union wants to replace national security of supply with European security of supply.

Even if Douglass Carswell does not understand the political importance of security of supply,the European Union certainly does.

However,if Mr.Carswell is not up to speed on defence procurement he does seem to have finally realised that the British government is following a policy of European integration.

Which he should have been able to work out from the tacit support of the Lisbon Treaty from Britain's Europeanist Prime Minister David Cameron.


The leader of Douglas Carswell's own Conservative party.

How Many Minutes Prime Minister?

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,unknown copyright

 

Yesterday in Parliament,British Prime Minister David Cameron made an astonishing claim.

 

He said:

 

"Today, I can confirm that RAF Typhoon jets have been deployed to a military base in southern Italy within 25 minutes flying time of the Libyan coast,and two Typhoons will be helping to patrol the no-fly zone this afternoon."

 

 

Picture: Original image by Google Earth,modifications by Grand Logistics

 

Why is this claim so astonishing?

 

Royal Air Force Typhoons have been seen at Gioia Del Colle in Italy.

 

It is about 580 miles* from Gioia Del Colle to the Libyan coast.

 

To fly that distance in 25 minutes,the Typhoon would have to average 1,392 miles per hour.

 

This is about 1.8 times the speed of sound (Mach 1.8).**

 

Which is less than the published maximum speed of a Typhoon.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,unknown copyright

 

But combat aircraft are rather like motor cars.

 

Your car might be capable of 150 miles per hour but it will spend most of it's time driving round at less than half that speed.

 

The faster a combat aircraft flies the more fuel it burns. 

 

Flying at supersonic speeds burns fuel at an extraordinary rate and consequently it is done sparingly.

 

Also,when the aircraft is carrying external weapons and fuel tanks,as a Typhoon would usually do in combat,it's maximum speed is reduced by the additional aerodynamic drag.

 

Consequently,most of the time a combat aircraft would be flying at subsonic speeds.

 

 

Picture: Geoffrey H. Lee

 

For example,the Tornado bomber has a claimed top speed of 1.3 times the speed of sound,about 1,000 miles per hour.

 

But the recent 3,000 mile mission to launch missiles against targets in Libya is said to have taken 8 hours.

 

An average speed of just 375 miles per hour.

 

 

Picture: Selena Wilke

 

As we are sure the Prime Minister would not dream of misleading Parliament,this raises some interesting questions:

 

Has the Prime Minister divulged that the Typhoon has an extraordinarily high cruising speed?

 

Has the Prime Minister divulged that the Typhoons are based somewhere other than Gioia Del Colle?

 

Are the Typhoons flying supersonic transits to Libya from Gioia Del Colle and making up the fuel burn with aerial refuelling?

 

Has the Prime Minister been incorrectly briefed?

 

*Distance from Google Earth.

 

**The speed of sound varies with altitude.

 

(Dead links to the Prime Minister's statement and Tornado's top speed replaced and additional links and picture attributions added on the Twenty-first of November,Twenty Twenty-one)