we will seek even more opportunities to exchange personnel.
Already a joint UK-US battlestaff have deployed on operations. I see this type of interchange becoming the norm, particularly in headquarters roles, but we are also exploring the opportunity to mutually support niche or perishable skills.
[Fourthly,] we will pursue mutual investment in the technologies that will allow us to operate together, because innovation has always been the hallmark of battle-winning navies.And absolutely crucial to this relationship, is interoperability.
Not as bolt-on or an afterthought, but right from the word go.
So, through the joint development of a Common Missile Compartment for our Strategic Missile Submarines, a common airframe for the Joint Strike Fighter, common weapon systems and stocks, common data protocols, we are establishing interoperability from the outset.
Source: UK/US naval partnership – Speeches – GOV.UK
This is pretty far reaching partnership and in line with the long standing policy of jointness being explored in eg the combined amphibious forces with the Netherlands and military partnership with the French. Given the huge costs of modern combat platforms this seems to me to be the only sensible way of being able to meet future threats, although I would rather the UK focusses her partnerships on the EU member states instead of the US, whose foreign policy is often much more ambitious (and morally questionable) than that of the UK. The US also has a long and proud history of taking secrets from their allies and returning little to nothing of value in return – eg. F-35 source code.
Robin Edgar
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