The eagle has landed

Shades of Jack Higgins in Whitehall this morning: the Prime Minister is convening the furtive sounding National Security Council, which will be presented with initial drafts of strategic defence review. As Richard Norton-Taylor puts it, the government has the opportunity to be radical and make this a ‘horse versus tank moment’, which is ironic given that the tank is poised to pass into obsolescence.

In truth, the drama is some way off; the government has delayed decisions rather than take them. The nuclear deterrent is not part of the review – the politics and economics of Trident’s replacement proving too contentious for the precious coalition. Personnel cuts are being resisted and extortionate procurement systems have not been addressed – althought that is probably within the remit of Lord Levene’s Defence Reform Unit. Additionally, the service chiefs, hoping to deflect cuts to another arm, have exaggerated their operational reach: the navy, for instance, insists that it must operate Trident, that it must have a functioning carrier group and that it needs a new flotilla of destroyers and corvettes to combat piracy and international crime.