@thinkdefence Genuine question - why not get longer range rockets?
English
John Charnock
5.7K posts
As demonstrated in this brief video shows helicopter and artillery rocket raids are not a new concept. This, but with GMLRS would be an interesting capability.
English
John Charnock retweetledi
Wartime Pace? New one for the buzzword bingo.
Wartime Pace > At speed of relevance > At Pace
Has it been socialised with the Top Brass, incorporated into the battle rhythm via an agile series of sprints to increase lethality by a factor of 10?
Larisa Brown@larisamlbrown
US think tank: The UK government has accepted an ambitious and necessary vision for British defense, promised to deliver it at what it called a “wartime pace,” and then spent the better part of two years producing nothing of substance. There are no significant program commitments, no major modernization announcements, and no serious investment decisions. fpri.org/article/2026/0…
English
John Charnock retweetledi
John Charnock retweetledi
Strangely, this Trump-style war video has disappeared from the Prime Minister's TikTok account.
Unfortunately for him, I downloaded it.
It's easy to forget how different the comms were in the early days of the war. He has only latterly leaned in to (helpful) political criticism that his delay and inaction was in fact pacifism. Initially he tried to sell the image that he was a man of action.
Keir Starmer@Keir_Starmer
I will always make decisions that are in the national interest. It’s why we aren’t getting dragged into the Middle East conflict, and why we are fighting to protect your living standards. And while opposition parties have responded by dividing communities, we respond with hope and pride. Pride in our communities, and the hope of a country that’s better for our children. That’s what we’re fighting for. Vote Labour on Thursday 7 May.
English
@UKDefJournal It is @hmtreasury you need to blame - they are anti defence, anti security and anti us
English
The first of the new medium-lift military helicopters for the UK is expected to enter service in January 2031. Click image for more.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/new-british-mi…
English
@TanDhesi Good work Tan - interested to know if the Labour whips will give you a hard time for this?
English
Honour to secure and lead #Parliament estimates day debate on Ministry of Defence spending.
Harsh reality is that threat picture is now worse, while our adversaries and others are rearming.
First duty of any #government is security of the nation and its people, so we must act.
English
@thinkdefence Drones not on the exercise MEL so it doesn't matter
English
Max range of 81mm mortar is about 5.5km, well within FPV range. Not going to extrapolate too much from a single image but should we be including lightweight drone mesh in these weight sensitive packages? Would you trade a couple of bombs for some nets and poles?
Jane@JaneFranklin99
Soldiers have parachuted onto Salisbury Plain as part of a training exercise, and are now defending the DZ. @16AirAssltBCT @ForcesNews
English
They are correct
Larisa Brown@larisamlbrown
US think tank: The UK government has accepted an ambitious and necessary vision for British defense, promised to deliver it at what it called a “wartime pace,” and then spent the better part of two years producing nothing of substance. There are no significant program commitments, no major modernization announcements, and no serious investment decisions. fpri.org/article/2026/0…
English
John Charnock retweetledi
🏉 Aylesbury Rugby – what a weekend 💗🖤
🏆 2nd XV 20–0 Tadley II – BBO4 Cup Winners
🔥 1st XV 29–10 Teddington – play-offs secured
🎉 Incredible support, brilliant mascots & a fantastic President’s Lunch
🚀 Momentum building at Ostler’s Field
#AylesburyRugby #COYAs
English
@MMart29191 @ModernNavy @NATO @DefenceHQ @jcartlidgemp I agree Mike 👍 it is verging on dishonest TBH
English
@JohnSCharnock @ModernNavy @NATO @DefenceHQ @jcartlidgemp The cost of operating the CASD has always fallen properly into the MoD budget. However, from 2010 there have been non-operational inclusions which were funded differently beforehand. Notwithstanding the clarification (which I accept) the defence budget is deeply misleading.
English
Using an accounting trick, in Feb 2025 the UK Government committed to increasing defence spending to 2.6% of GDP by 2027 by including the Single Intelligence Account, which pays for MI5, MI6, and GCHQ intelligence agencies @NATO @DefenceHQ @jcartlidgemp
naval-technology.com/features/nato-…
English
John Charnock retweetledi
NATO now puts UK 2025 defence spend at 2.31% of GDP (down from 2.4%) a result of persistent cuts and defence spending delays. The UK is below #NATO averages and behind many allies, despite pledges of 2.6% by 2027 and 3.5% by 2035 @DefenceTech_Mag @NATO
naval-technology.com/features/nato-…
English
@MMart29191 @ModernNavy @NATO @DefenceHQ @jcartlidgemp Historical Funding: The cost of the nuclear deterrent has consistently been included in the overall defence budget, a point clarified by the MOD in 2017 to correct assertions that it was added only post-2010.
English
@ModernNavy @NATO @DefenceHQ @jcartlidgemp The defence budget has been utterly misleading since 2010 - Osborne forcing the MoD budget to absorb the total cost of Defence Intelligence, the Deterrent and Pensions, etc. Using pre-2010 conventions, for the defence budget and you get 1.4% [of GNI] against the advertised 2.3%!
English
@MMart29191 @ModernNavy @NATO @DefenceHQ @jcartlidgemp The UK's nuclear deterrent has traditionally been funded directly from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget since the inception of the nuclear deterrent programme in the 1950s.
English
@Mark1_1984 I really do hope we are waking up to this blindingly obvious risk.
English
Selling off RAF Macrahanish was really rather misguided wasn't it
English
@mwgbanks1 @afneil 💯 % correct - they never, at any stage, had any intent other than not spending money on defence
English
@afneil I maintained before the election and after that Labour's Strategic Defence Review, which took ages, was a political delaying mechanism to allow them to put off improvements by avoiding finding more money from within or without; and so it proved.
There will be no DIP either.
English
Quite right too. Except that firing the Tories doesn’t end the matter. Our military unpreparedness has got worse since July 2024. Which in its own way is quite the achievement. Who should we fire for that?
Will Hutton@williamnhutton
Those responsible were fired in July 2024. The government should now issue defence bonds, including some inheritance tax exempt with low coupons to attract new buyers, to turbocharge our defence readiness.
English
John Charnock retweetledi
How is Norway able to fund such a Defence budget when we aren’t? One factor is they’re still drilling in the North Sea - we buy their fossil fuels from the same basin we deny ourselves the economic benefit from. Madness.
Navy Lookout@NavyLookout
🇳🇴Norway has decided to further increase its defence spending by 115 NOK (c£8.9Bn) to 3.5% GDP by 2035. This guarantees funding of 5 or 6 Type 26 frigates as well as 6 Type 212CD submarines.
English
John Charnock retweetledi
I can't help thinking CR/3 is a better recce vehicle than ajax, and cheaper
English
John Charnock retweetledi
@JohnSCharnock I remember standing on the square in Herford, in 1993, discussing Options for Change and how we were losing a lot of our best JNCOs and Sgts. We concluded it was a harbinger of doom for the army. We could not possibly have conceived how bad it would actually become.
English
It could not be worse - beyondpathetic - my service has been worthless - all that we did has no meaning anymore - we are being betrayed 💔 😢
LBC@LBC
How many frigates and destroyers does the UK have at its disposal? Defence Secretary John Healey can't seem to tell @NickFerrariLBC with any certainty.
English