British Defence in the 21st Century

John Louth, Trevor Taylor

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351784894
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Política y relaciones internacionales
• Subtopic: Libertad política

This book analyses UK defence as a complex, interdependent public-private enterprise covering politics, management, society, and technology, as well as the military.

Building upon wide-ranging applied research, with extensive access to ministers, policy makers, senior military commanders, and industrialists, the book characterises British defence as a phenomenon that has endured extensive transformation this century. Looking at the subject afresh as a complex, extended enterprise involving politics, alliances, businesses, skills, economics, military practices, and citizens, the authors profoundly reshape our understanding of 'defence' and how it is to be commissioned and delivered in a world dominated by geopolitical risks and uncertainties. The book makes the case that this new understanding of defence must inevitably lead to new policies and processes to ensure its health and vitality.

This book will be of much interest to students of defence studies, British politics, and military and strategic studies, as well as policy makers and practitioners.

1 Introduction

The end of doctrine and loss of military primacy

This book deals with the subject of UK defence in the twenty-first century. For us, the authors, defence is both a national security policy imperative and an interlocking set of strategies, technologies, values, behaviours, skills, relationships, and programmes that constantly evolve and change. It is complicated and involves much more than just the provision, and practices, of men and women in military uniforms – important though this is.

For the casual reader that may seem an odd statement to make. Surely the subject of UK defence is the story of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, the British Army and the Royal Air Force. What else is there to consider? Well, the answer is, ‘a great deal’, and this goes to the core argument of this book. Principally, that UK defence has evolved into a complex and multi-faceted public–private, national-international cats-cradle of partnerships and other relationships, offering components that come together to generate defence capabilities, thereby promoting our security in an unpredictable world. This concept of, what we would label, the Defence Extended Enterprise¹ offers citizens, students, commanders, and policy makers alike a substantive opportunity for understanding, influencing, and shaping the critical forces and factors of UK defence. Simply to think of this subject through the lens of the armed forces is to offer an analogue understanding to a post-digital age.

Let us explain a little at the outset. British defence in the twenty-first century has changed profoundly, and not just in terms of the equipment used by the armed forces and the size and shape of the armed services. To illustrate:

• The notable 1998 Strategic Defence Review² was led and implemented by a single ministry, whereas in 2015 it was not thought exceptional that the policy review for defence should be nested within a National Security Strategy overseen by a multi-departmental National Security Council.

• In 1996, British defence doctrine was all about operational victory over clearly identifiable enemies. By 2016, British commanders could barely discuss ‘victory’ as a concept.

• In the First Gulf War in 1991, almost everyone from the West involved in operations in and around Kuwait was in the military. Come the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, 2001–2015, at the height of military engagement, nearly half the people involved in the Western-led coalitions were drawn from the private sector, under contract to the military and different, multiple governments.³

Building upon extensive, applied research into the UK defence environment, with extensive access to ministers, policy makers, senior military commanders, and industrialists, this book characterises British defence as a phenomenon that has endured extensive transformation this century. Looking at the subject afresh as this complex Defence Extended Enterprise involving politics, alliances, businesses, skills, economics, military practices, and citizens, our intention is to profoundly reshape the reader’s understanding of ‘defence’ and how it is to be commissioned and delivered in a world dominated by geopolitical risks and uncertainties.

Indeed, when the Conservative–Liberal coalition came to power in 2010, observers of the UK would have been aware of what could be described as a perfect storm of strategic challenges. There was a necessity to address the consuming needs of difficult operations in Afghanistan, resurgent challenges in Iraq and the soon-to-be disruptive explosion of the Libyan collapse and intervention. This was accompanied by a profound decline in government revenues, a rise in borrowing, and a significant gap between Ministry of Defence (MoD) commitments and intentions and the likely income available. Rising powers, both conventional and non-state, were seeking to exploit Western exhaustion with its conflicts of choice and economic shifts were transforming notions of global influence. Throughout this century, the UK has continued to be challenged by profound population movements from the Middle East and Africa to Europe; a resurgent Russia occupying, by force, lands belonging to another state; strategic confusion over what to do about a conflict such as the one in Syria; and reductions in military manpower and recognised gaps in capability. Moreover, as we will discuss, the UK champions the private sector’s involvement in traditional defence roles and has outsourced many of its core management capabilities. Anyone returning to working in defence having left the last century would find the present defence ecosystem to be a profoundly different space.

This book describes, explains and critically assesses this transformation, providing an evidence-based analysis of the new public–private and international constructs of defence. It makes the case that this new understanding of defence must inevitably lead to new policies and processes to ensure its health and vitality. Its aim is to become required reading for all students of defence and those already in senior policy-making and managerial roles.

Chapter objectives

By the end of this chapter the reader will understand:

1 How the subject of UK defence has evolved from operations in 1991 to the contingent defence postures of the twenty-first century;

2 Conventional notions of British defence doctrine at the beginning of the epoch and the challenges of twenty-first century military engagements;

3 The idea of UK defence as a complicated extended enterprise involving multiple components;

4 The structure and outline argument of the book as it addresses the themes offered by this introduction.

Chapter structure

We start with the narrative and supporting data relating to British operations in the First Gulf War of 1991. The intention is to provide a baseline of understanding of the practices and effects of a multi-national, alliance-based operation using conventional land, sea, and air forces, as well as elite special forces. This will demonstrate that, within a major international alliance, British policy-making was governmental and the execution of war-fighting and its support, principally, the preserve of the military.

The text moves on to an analysis of British defence doctrine in 1996, based on an MoD publication that states that defence is about military primacy, the maintenance of a strategic and operational aim and, ultimately, victory over a recognised foe. We will test this doctrine against British involvement in the Sierra Leone conflict in 2000 as another example of British policy at the beginning of the century.

The work will then outline the changes in UK defence stances through the Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libyan operations, and the development of a broader public–private partnership for defence – on operations and within the home base. In turn, this will align to the management reforms of the defence procurement organisations and processes from 1998 onwards. The chapter will conclude with a broader explanatory model of UK defence that will form the basis for each subsequent chapter.

First Gulf War: 1991 – military primacy

For most of the post-war period, British security and accompanying defence postures were driven by, and resided within, the country’s membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which we come on to discuss in Chapter 2. Yet Britain’s major defence operations prior to the 9/11 attack on the United States were the national operation in 1982 to re-take the Falkland Islands, following a surprise invasion by Argentina, and the country’s commitment to join the US-led coalition to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait, which they had occupied in 1990. These pages deal with the latter operation as an example of multinational military co-operation and accompanying notions of the primacy of the military to defence.

Prelude to war

The Iraqi Army occupied Kuwait in August 1990 in a dispute that had its origins, historically, in Iraqi claims over Kuwait as sovereign territory,⁴ and more contemporarily, in Iraq’s assertion that Kuwait was regularly exceeding Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quotas for oil production: a manipulation of the OPEC cartel rules that was deeply impacting upon the Iraqi economy.⁵ In response to a massive ground invasion by Iraqi forces and the fleeing into exile of the Kuwaiti Emir and government, the United Nations condemned the invasion, passing Resolution 660 demanding an immediate withdrawal of Iraqi troops.⁶ Under United States leadership, and subsequent resolutions provided by the UN,⁷ Operation Desert Shield (from August 1990 to 17 January 1991) saw the build-up of significant coalition forces in the Gulf region to protect Saudi Arabia and prepare for the liberation of Kuwait. Indeed, it represented the largest build-up of forces for an operation since the end of the Second World War.⁸

Coalition strike

Operation Desert Storm, from 17 January to 28 February 1991 saw the militaries from 34 countries expel by force of arms the Iraqi occupiers from Kuwait.⁹ A coalition of just fewer than one million soldiers, sailors, and airmen inflicted approximately 100,000 casualties on the Iraqi forces, destroying almost 4,000 tanks, 110 aircraft and nearly 3,000 artillery pieces. In return, the coalition lost barely 300 personnel, with close to 500 wounded, and with 31 tanks and 75 aircraft destroyed. It was a stunning victory, owing much to superior firepower, a distinct technological advantage, fighting spirit, and the golden nugget of air supremacy.¹⁰

Importantly, for the British, it was exactly the sort of conflict that their doctrine, training, equipment, and force structures enabled them to contri...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Citation
• Half Title
• Fm
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of boxes
• Foreword
• 1 Introduction: the end of doctrine and loss of military primacy
• 2 Defence as policy and politics
• 3 Defence as management
• 4 Defence as technology
• 5 Defence as industrial policy
• 6 Defence as exports and engagement
• 7 Defence as skills and competencies
• 8 Defence as community action
• 9 Defence as teamwork and partnering
• 10 Defence as the military
• 11 Conclusion: defence practice – from analogue to digital? The Defence Extended Enterprise
• Index