Navy's fleet set to shrink further says fresh study
Defence experts have predicted the navy will find it 'incredibly tough' to replace ships as government spending shrinks.
Budget cuts and the growing cost of defence assets were two main factors mentioned in a report predicting a drop in the size of the armed forces.
But for workers in The News area the squeeze is also expected to mean reductions to future shipbuilding programmes.
The report said that if the cutbacks were evenly spread major vessels would drop from 57 to 46.
Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock, who sits on the Commons defence committee, said: 'The navy will find the next five years even tougher than the pressure they've been under so far.
'The navy has had to fight and play very carefully to get the two carriers, and there really isn't any slack in the budget for them to push for more.
'I heard evidence at the defence committee this week and the tone was incredibly downbeat.
'It's clear that the army will be favourites to get any funding because of Afghanistan, but at least the navy is in a better position than the air force.
'I think there could be a radical rethink of the future of the RAF.'
Yesterday's report by the respected Royal United Services Institute found personnel levels would be impossible to preserve in the face of a rising budget deficit.
Professor Malcolm Chalmers, who wrote the report, said personnel levels could fall from 175,000 in 2010 to 142,000 in 2016.
He said: 'Projected reductions in budgets and personnel will require large reductions in the number of front-line capabilities.'
The report was based on data from the Ministry of Defence, HM Treasury, the National Audit Office and political parties, through an analysis of budget projections.
It came a day after the MoD admitted 20 per cent of Britain's infantry is unfit to fight on the front line.
Commander John Muxworthy, head of the UK National Defence Association said: 'The Rusi report is absolutely full of doom and gloom and if the navy was cut to the levels predicted it would be an utter disaster.
'We seem to forget in this country that all of our institutions are built on the safety that our defence spending provides, and taking it away will leave us at real risk.'
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Friday 25 May 2012
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