In reading this blog you are in distinguished - well, somewhat distinguished - company because it is now clear that I may count among my readership the Chiefs of the General Staff who, despite the fact that I only reached the rank of corporal, obviously follow my pronouncements on future strategy very closely. For some time now I have been banging on about the need for the formation of what I call an 'e-warfare' formation to deal with the threat of cyber attacks on our national systems and also to have the ability to launch 'e-counter-attacks' against our enemies. I suggested that much use should be made of reservists from the IT world who have the sort of expertise required - people like 'SoD' who was wasted as TA paratrooper (nearly as useless as his father!) but who is a real swot at computer-thingies!
Anyway, last week the MoD announced that 77 Brigade, made up of regulars and reservists, was being formed although it was not quite clear what its exact purpose would be. Mention was made of it being able to "fight in the information age" although from the sparse reports the 'Brass' in Whitehall seem to think that can be done by means of Twitter! So as usual it appears that the generals haven't a clue but I live in hopes that they're just keeping quiet about the Brigade's real task. In my view, cyber warfare is already a critical part of modern warfare, the modern equivalent of previous war-winners like the battleship, the tank and the aircraft carrier.
In the meantime, Con Coughlin in The Telegraph is weeping into his beer over the severity of the cuts to our armed services:
With the Coalition’s most recent defence cuts, following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), the Army’s strength now stands at a modest 82,000 men. The total number of RAF combat squadrons is due to fall to a paltry six – hardly sufficient to protect Britain’s airspace, let alone undertake overseas combat operations. The number of operational Navy warships stands at just 18 – five destroyers and 13 frigates – with the two new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers unlikely to enter service until well into the next decade.
What adds to Coughlin's worries is that none of the main political parties are raising any objections to this alarming shrinkage. By and large, I am in favour of cutting our defence forces but just as I no longer trust the 'brass' to command large forces (Iraq, Afghanistan, passim) then equally I do not trust them to control cuts with wisdom and to concentrate their scarce resources into key areas. I suspect they will just insist on having exactly the same sort of formations as before - but just tinier ones and not so many! What they need to do is concentrate on what is really required for war in the 21st century but, alas, it is a constant characteristic of the 'Brass' always to train their forces to fight the previous war!
