The Editor
The Daily Telegraph
23 March 2011

Sir,

A cynic might think that Mr Cameron is lucky in the timing of the military action in which Britain has become embroiled. While assets that would have been invaluable in the Libya crisis – notably Ark Royal and its Harriers – have already been struck off by his defence cuts, there has been no time to remove others. The frigate Cumberland, on its way home to be scrapped, was the only ship nearby able to evacuate civilians from Libya. Now providing surveillance, the Sentinel aircraft will go as soon as the Afghan imbroglio is over. The remaining Nimrod R1 long-range reconnaissance planes, reported to be operating in this conflict, are also on a detour from the scrapyard. And we are lucky to be able still to deploy a reasonable number of Tornados and Typhoons before many of the former are scrapped and the latter sold to Indonesia or anyone else interested. None of these assets will be replaced. We can only hope that any others minded to provoke us to action – if that is the right word – will hurry to do so while stocks last.

David Coleman