His last comment, UK CDS on Afghanistan
Immaculate timing and part of the build-up to the NATO meeting in Lisbon:
Quote:
Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup, who retires as Chief of the Defence staff on Friday, told the BBC that a significant cut in numbers would not come until the end of Prime Minister David Cameron's 2015 deadline for the end of combat operations.
"I suspect that our reduction is going to be fairy rapid and steep towards the end of that period rather than gradually over the next four to five years," he said. "It would be wrong to suggest that from next year you could start to see significant reductions in numbers of British forces; I really do not think that would be sensible."
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...n-Taliban.html
UK to replace Snatch vehicle with Foxhound
From the Beeb
Quote:
The Ministry of Defence has signed a £180m contract for 200 new patrol vehicles to replace the controversial Snatch Land Rover.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...lppv_464in.jpg
Paras make first op jump since Suez
Report in the Sunday Times (but behind a paywall) states:
Quote:
Men from the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment dropped from RAF Hercules C130 aircraft to take on unsuspecting fighters.
...
The soldiers carried little equipment and used low-level parachutes that allow them to jump from as low as 250ft.
Note: 1 Para's role is SFSG (Special Forces Support Group).
Suez - 5 Nov 1956 http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...NYxs4x7pngNWUw http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...5yyZ3y8SCVy3Xg
From one para to another - Utrinque Paratus - always proud of fellow paras.
--(we share the feeling one gets in the gut when the aircraft turns to start the run in and you receive the command - "stand-up, hook-up, check equipment")--
A 'breeze of change' blows in Helmand
The UK press corps must have a detachment in Helmand, to report on Xmas celebrations and then accept MoD briefings (as indicated by JMA's post above).
Clearly 3 Para have snared this reporter, who starts with this:
Quote:
This is the 10th Christmas that UK forces have spent looking out on to Afghanistan's seemingly untamed landscape. But while no one is clamouring to say it there have been too many false dawns there is a feeling in the air that, as yet another year of the campaign comes to a close, a corner has been turned.
...Commanders are understandably reticent about trumpeting success in Helmand but they are getting close enough to whisper phrases such as "irreversible gains" and "unstoppable momentum".
They also mention "virtuous circles", one of which will become apparent in early spring with the next poppy harvest. If it is like last year's low yield due in part to the farmers' fear of eradication, which led them to harvest too early then there will be less money for the insurgents. That means fewer guns, bombs and hired foot-soldiers, which in turn means a less cowed population who will be more inclined to believe Nato's promises of security.
Then there is this classic:
Quote:
Precision strike is also slowly winning over civilians, who are beginning to understand the efforts made to avoid unnecessary deaths.
Quote:
There are signs that the precision strikes have contributed to a growing trickle of junior Taliban commanders changing sides a process known as "reintegration" in exchange for their removal from target lists.... People want to stand up and reject the insurgency. They'd rather give up the fight than fight to the death.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...n-Helmand.html