Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[crazy canuck]

Well, I think the Canadian should be a cautionary tale.  For a couple of decades, the justification was that although our spending was relatively low, we had very good capability. But the problem is there's a lot of spending that is necessary on things that are not directly linked to the actual tools of war that are necessary for maintaining the capability to fighter war

Things that look like lien items in any budget, HR costs, public plant and planning, etc., etc. etc.

The military is one of those things where a carve out is needed in the budget because without it other or immediate political pressures will always push it to the sideline

[Valmy]

On frigates and destroyers vs drones, my thinking is that any time there's a "this new technology renders all the old stuff completely obsolete" argument, it's mostly hype. My understanding is that tanks and APCs are still valuable in the war between Russia and Ukraine, for example, in spite of (and probably more likely - in conjunction with) the prevalence of drone warfare. Similarly, infantry is still super necessary.

I expect what really matters is doctrine, how well to integrate the classic capabilities with the new ones.

The whole "it's the age of drones! We don't need warships anymore!" sounds like a superficial excuse to, once more, not invest in critical capabilities.

It is the age of drones. You need drones. You also need tons of artillery shells and other ordinance. The Euros already seem ok at building frigates and tanks and training infantry.

But having sufficient ordinance and things like drones strike me as more problematic.