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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 0505.PDF
26 February 1954 229 THE STATEMENT ON DEFENCE (continued from page 227) But (points out the statement) many of the weapons are still in the development stage and, taking them as a whole, not enough is generally known about their effect on operations for any definite views to be formulated. It will be some years before we have enough of these new weapons to bring about any very radical modification in the pattern of the U.K. defence effort. They will, however, begin to have their effect in increasing the fighting power of our forces and in making them better able to meet those tasks in a major war for which they cannot at present be regarded as adequate. In the longer term, too, we shall continue to need conventional forces to deal with the kind of cold war operations, falling short of a major war, in which our forces are now engaged. And even in a major war it does not seem likely that the possession of new weapons will make it any less necessary to keep a firm screen of troops on the ground and of aircraft to withstand the first shock of an attack, to hold the enemy until mobilization is completed and to exploit and consolidate the tactical situations which the new weapons will create. Clearly, within a limited defence budget, we may not be able to afford botli new weapons and conventional forces of the present size. But the balance between the two can only be decided in the light of the situation as it develops over the year ahead. The new weapons can in any event only be introduced gradually as tliey become available. With all these considerations in mind, the Government have concluded that a gradual change should be brought about in the direction and balance of our defence effort. Still greater emphasis will have to be placed on the R.A.F. because of the need to build up a strategic bomber force and because of the importance of guided missiles in air defence. This emphasis will take time to reveal itself in increased allocations of funds to the Air Ministry. Of the other two Services it is stated : "Expenditure on the Army will tend to decline . . . The necessity for the proper defence of our sea com munications makes it unlikely that expenditure on the Royal Navy can be reduced much below its present level." Enlarging upon the broad programmes for the three Services, it is stated that the Royal Navy will continue to concentrate on building up and modernizing its anti-submarine and anti-mine forces and on the completion of aircraft carriers now under construction. The carriers will be fitted with the angled deck, of British invention, which will make it possible for them to operate efficiently much higher-performance Naval aircraft. In the Army the number of active front-line formations will be somewhat reduced, and the re-equipment programme for the Reserve Army will be concentrated on those formations which would be the first to be mobilized and to go into action. The R.A.F. will concentrate on modernization and expansion in the U.K. and Western Europe, while maintaining forces of high quality in the Middle and Far East. Jet medium-bomber squadrons will be built up as early as production allows to provide a highly trained and flexible force. Finance.—Under this main heading it is explained that the actual expenditure in 1953-54 is likely to prove less than was originally esti mated. Principal among the causes for this was the considerable adjustment made in the production and works programmes as fore shadowed in last year's Statement on Defence and because of the short fall in deliveries of aircraft and their associated equipment. The figures are tabulated as follows; they are in millions of pounds:— Estimate, not allow- Estimate allowing ing for receipts from for receipts from U.S. Aid. U.S. Aid. 1953-54 1954-55 1953-54 1954-55 Admiralty 364.50 367.00 329.50 353.00 War Office 581.00 561.00 526.00 535.00 Air Ministry 548.00 537.00 498.00 491.64 Mininry of Supply 123.75 151.00 123.75 151.00 Ministry of Defence 19.51 23.90 19.51 23.90 1,636.76 1,639.90 1,496.76 1,554.54 On the subject of atomic weapons it is stated that, subject to the necessary legislation the Minister of Defence will remain generally responsible, after the Atomic Energy Authority is set up, for the allo cation of the resources available for defence purposes between atomic weapons and conventional arms. The Minister of Supply will be resoonsible for the provision to the Services of complete atomic weapons and will place contracts with the Authority for the production of their nuclear components and for research and development in relation to these weapons. The Admiralty will deal direct with the Authority on matters affecting nuclear propulsion of ships. It is noted that the figures for 1954-55 tabulated above include for the first time the estimated cost to the Service departments of atomic weapons to be delivered to them in that period and to the Ministry of Supply of atomic weapon research and development. Manpower.—The figures for regular recruitment for the last four years and an estimate for 1954 are tabulated as follows:— Male Regular Recruits (Actual) Estimated 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 10,000 10,500 10,300 9,300 9,000 25,300 26,400 53,200 42.700 40,000 ... 23,600 44,900 39,800 31.600 31,000 Navy Army R.A.F. Totals 58,900 81,800 103.300 83,600 80,000 Each of the Services is seen to have suffered an appreciable decline in regular recruiting in 1953. In the R.A.F. recruiting on long-term engagements continues to be inadequate. About 15,000 men undertook the short three-year engagement as compared with 22,000 in 1952, while enlistments on four-year engagement remain about the same at 5,000. Both the Army and the R.A.F. are obtaining many of their *H.M. Stationery Office, price Is. recruits on an initial three-year regular engagement, and it is important to ensure that a reasonable proportion of these prolong their service. Among the men on three-year engagements in the R.A.F. not more than 3 per cent are at present prolonging their service. There will be four registrations for National Service in the current year, and of the estimated available number of 199,000 men the R.A.F. have been allocated 60,000. During the past year the number of volunteers for Reserve and Auxiliary Forces in the Navy and Air Force has remained broadly constant. Production, Research and Development.—The figure provided for defence production is about the same this year as in 1953-54, namely, £650 million, and there will be no major changes in the character of the production programmes for the three Services. During the past year further contracts have been entered into under the offshore procurement programme for the purchase by the United States of military equipment produced in this country for the use of NATO countries, including the U.K. Up to the end of 1953, the total value of orders placed by the U.S. amounted to some $450 million. This was made up largely of orders for aircraft (Hunters and Sea Hawks), ammunition, Centurion tanks, electronic equipment and mine sweepers. Orders of this magnitude make a valuable contribution towards improving the balance of payments and strengthening our war potential, as well as enabling the U.K. to play an effective part in equipping the forces of the NATO countries and promoting standardiza tion. It is hoped that as a result of current discussions further orders will be placed in the U.K. It is stated that the changes in the defence programme have not caused redundancy on any large scale, and the export of aircraft, par ticularly in the form of offshore procurement by the U.S., has helped to maintain production in the aircraft industry. The labour force in the aircraft industry stood at 227,000 at the end of last November as com pared with 206,000 a year previously. More skilled labour is still required, and some firms will need to add considerably to their labour strength this year. Notes on the Naval production programme for 1954-55 include the following references. Three of the aircraft carriers at present under construction are expected to be completed during the year, each with an angled flight deck; the steam catapult and improved arresting gear will also come into service; and there will be a substantial provision of aircraft for the Fleet Air Arm and the development, and introduction of helicopters for Naval work is proceeding. Some details of the programme for the R.A.F. are also given. Air craft will again form the largest single item and the provision has been increased to £156 million. Over four-fifths of the money will be spent on jet aircraft, and over half on bombers and swept-wing fighters. It is noted that aircraft of the types already in service were delivered to the R.A.F. at approximately the rates forecast, but there were some delays in commencing delivery of the new and more advanced types and their associated equipment. These were caused primarily by technical difficulties in development. Increased provision is being made for newer, improved types of aircraft guns, ammunition and bombs. Larger quantities of the new types of airborne radio and radar equipment will be delivered. The first stage of the expansion and modernization of the U.K. radar net work will be completed, and similar work overseas will be continued. Spare parts for the maintenance of equipment already held by our forces have continued to figure largely in the deliveries to the U.K. by the U.S. under the Mutual Security Act. Complete equipment received included fighter and anti-submarine aircraft, helicopters, radio, radar, vehicles and ammunition. Some of the equipment was manu factured in the U.K. and paid for by the U.S. under the offshore pro curement programme. The delivery of F-86 Sabres to the R.A.F. is virtually completed. This was a joint Canadian/United States project. In the main the air frames were produced and financed by Canada and the engines and ancillary equipment were provided by the U.S. Further deliveries of radar equipment and other material were received from Canada and will be continued throughout the next year. It is stated that probably at no previous time have the defence services been faced with decisions of such extreme difficulty in the field of research and development. Scientific research has opened the way to the development of new weapons of enormously increased effect. The time taken to put such complicated equipment through the various stages of research, development and production tended to be much longer than in the past, and the weapons themselves were extremely cosdy. As an example of the problems faced, the White Paper states that the time may well come when, for certain purposes at any rate, the manned aircraft will be superseded by the guided weapon, but the Government are not yet in a position to say when that may be and cannot therefore ignore the necessity for dealing, for instance, with hostile bombers capable of flying at great heights and at soeeds approaching that of sound. To deal with this threat with the fighter demands a proper fighting machine whose speed well exceeds that of sound—the paper goes on to claim that good progress has been made in this direction and there is reasonable hope that a research aircraft will fly within the next twelve months. The new fighters now being introduced in the R.A.F. will in due course be equipped with powerful air-to-air guided weapons which will increase their lethaUty by perhaps four times. The development of surface-to-air guided weapons is also making good progress. All these developments are being supported by continual improve ments in our arrangements for detecting incoming enemy aircraft and in our control-and-reporting system generally. Our defence plan is so designed as to permit these new developments to be introduced and phased into the existing system as they can be made available. (Extracts from the Air Estimates are given overleaf)
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