Current RN News and Updates

[Pelican]

Navy Lookout
House of Commons debate on defence starting now.
Pathetic attendance indicates complacency and negligence in the face of serious and growing threats to the UK.
https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d ... 7265bc108b

[Pelican]

Defence Committee
"Has the risk picture changed for the worse in the last few years? Clearly.”
“Have we fully risen to the challenge? We have not.”
Watch Defence Committee Chair Jeremy MQuin open today’s debate with Commons PAC on whether the UK is ready for full-scale conflict - at https://twitter.com/CommonsDefence/stat ... 4608096451

[Pelican]

Francois calls on Government not to cut defence spending

This week in the House of Commons, Former Armed Forces Minister and Rayleigh & Wickford MP, Mark Francois, called on the Government not to cut the Defence Budget.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/francoi ... -spending/


Royal Navy to 3D print spare parts for ships

The Ministry of Defence has awarded a contract for two advanced 3D metal printers as part of an effort to enhance its logistical and manufacturing capabilities.
Valued at £383,000, the contract was secured with Additive X of Ripon and spans from 14 March 2024 to 30 March 2030.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/royal-n ... for-ships/

[Pelican]

Leadership in defence should put country before Party

Putin claimed 88% of all votes in last week’s Russian presidential poll. A total sham of an election but a serious moment for UK defence.

Over the next decade, we face Putin’s regime and an active alliance of aggression from autocrats who have contempt for international law and freely squander the lives of their own people

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/leaders ... ore-party/

[Note author.]

[Pelican]

Navy Lookout
As part of the RN's Maritime Electronic Warfare Countermeasures programme (Increment 1a) SEA Limited Chess Dynamics
has been awarded £135M contract to provide their trainable Ancilia Decoy Launching System for fittting across a range of surface ships.
https://www.sea.co.uk/news/royal-navy-s ... s-contract

This will replace the obsolete fixed Outfit DLH / Sea Gnat system currently in RN service.
The trainable launcher provides faster reaction times.
https://www.navylookout.com/royal-navy- ... launchers/

Also https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/royal-n ... launchers/

[Pelican]

Ready (or not), here they come

In light of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of NATO this year and the most recent revelations about the personnel needs of Ukraine as they enter their third year of defending themselves against Putin, this article will consider how these two potential fissures in the fabric of global defence strike straight to the heart of the UKs most significant oversight – readiness.
What does readiness mean?
How do we ensure we have it, and why do I think that in the ever-changing and particularly fractious climate of geopolitical tension, Scotland is well-placed to create an armed force ready for modern-day defence?

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/ready-o ... they-come/

[Pelican]

Sir Humphrey
The MOD confirmed that the median gender pay gap for Civil Servants is 8.2%, up 0.4% in a year, despite women making up almost 50% of workforce in most grades.
There is a 1.4% gender pay gap in the armed forces.
Important documents well worth a read.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ports-2023

[Pelican]

Armed Forces to receive new Wider Service Medal - here's who is eligible

A new medal to broaden the recognition of service personnel carrying out operational roles has been announced.

The Wider Service Medal will be awarded to personnel delivering crucial operational impact, where the physical risk to life is lower than traditionally required for an operational medal.

Royal Navy personnel deployed on the UK's continuous at sea nuclear deterrent, soldiers deployed as part of the UK's reassurance to the people of Estonia and RAF pilots and ground crew deployed to Estonia and Romania on Nato air policing patrol will all be eligible for the award.

What are the different medals that can be awarded?
Nuclear Test Veterans Medal: All the gen and how to apply
All you need to know about the Victoria Cross
The first medals will be presented in early summer and will be awarded retrospectively to personnel who've been deployed on ongoing operations since December 2018.

The medal is being introduced to recognise the changing nature of operational activity, whereby personnel are increasingly deployed or used to deliver operational impact but not necessarily in roles that expose them to physical risk, the MOD said.

This activity does not fall within the traditional operational medal criteria that still relies on 'risk and rigour'.

The medal will be given to those who have accrued 180 days of aggregated service on eligible operations.

This means a standard deployment of six months, with two weeks rest and recuperation, would not qualify for the medal.

Subsequent service of 180 days will result in the award of a bar to the medal - up to a maximum of three bars.

https://www.forces.net/news/armed-force ... ho-eligble

[Brian James]

Archer Class Training and Patrol Vessels HMS Archer and HMS Example pictured at Saint Nazaire on March 25th 2024.

[Pelican]

New medal acknowledges front-line efforts by Navy worldwide

Sailors and Royal Marines who have served in the Gulf will be eligible for a new decoration – one of several operations recognised by the Wider Service Medal.
Operation Kipion – the long-standing security mission carried out by Royal Navy and RFA ships from Suez to the Seychelles and involves hundreds of Senior Service personnel 24/7/365 – is one of several operations singled out for eligibility under the new medal, announced by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.


Approved by The King, the WSM as it will be abbreviated, recognises military personnel and civilians on operations who make a significant contribution to the UK’s missions in rigorous circumstances but where the physical risk to life – traditionally required for the award of an operational medal – is lower.


To be eligible for the medal you must have completed 180 days’ aggregated service on one of the named operations (further service of 180 days will earn a bar up to a maximum of three) since December 11 2018 (selected because it was the day HM Queen Elizabeth II approved the new decoration in principle).

As well as Kipion, the first tranche of eligible ops includes: HMS Tamar and Spey’s Asia-Indo-Pacific deployment (Woodwall), strategic missile deterrence patrols (Relentless, in addition to the existing ‘bomber pins’), as well as the Tri-Service missions to safeguard eastern Europe (Cabrit) and train Ukrainian personnel (Orbital). Other operations are being considered.


The first WSMs will be presented early this summer to a representative sample of recipients, with the medal enter mass production in the autumn, when it will be issued more widely.


All personnel who qualify for the Wider Service Medal will be notified in the usual manner.

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... -worldwide