UKNDA (UK National Defence Association)
To campaign for sufficient, appropriate and fully funded Armed Forces that the United Kingdom needs to defend effectively this Country, its people, their vital interests and security at home and throughout the world.
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UKNDA
FOR THE UKNDA TO CAMPAIGN EFFECTIVELY FOR
SUFFICIENT, APPROPRIATE &
FULLY FUNDED ARMED FORCES
WE NEED TO DO THREE THINGS
To promote our MESSAGE
To acquire MANY MORE MEMBERS
To gather in MORE MONEY
To support our
"SUPPORT OUR ARMED FORCES CAMPAIGN"
JOIN US NOW
DEFENCE ON THE CHEAP
Defence on the cheap. That’s what governments of all persuasions have, for the last fifty years, tried – and failed – to provide. There’s no such thing as "defence on the cheap", but there is (and we have it now) inadequate defence on the cheap.
The evidence is there for all to see. The Army is smaller than it has been since the 18th century; it has also become increasingly inappropriate for the tasks at hand. It has too many tanks, too few appropriate support vehicles and too few infantry for its current tasks and almost certainly for those threats it and the country might face in the foreseeable future.
Year after year since the end of World War II the Royal Navy has been constantly reduced in size in both numbers of ships and manpower. Modern ships have been sold off cheaply. Destroyers and Frigates are being tied up alongside at "extended readiness". The RN now has fewer ships and men than the navies of Japan, India, China and even France.
The RAF too has been much reduced in size and, arguably, has a force of hugely expensive aircraft; notably Nimrod and the Typhoon, with not enough of the first and potentially too many of the second. The RAF's largely ageing fleet of transport and support aircraft requires expansion and modernisation. More helicopters are urgently required. Has the RAF's support infrastructure already been reduced too far to be able to cope with even its existing tasks?
Now the Government and the defence "establishment" would, and do, argue that while numbers are indeed smaller, unit capability is significantly greater. This statement in some cases is true – but numbers are important. One ship can only be in one place at a time and, by Murphy’s Law, could well be in the wrong ocean when a need arises. Iraq, Afghanistan and other operational commitments leave the Army increasingly overstretched. Also unforgivably and sometimes fatally, inadequate funding leaves men fighting with inadequate or insufficient equipment. As for the Royal Air Force, while the Army is desperate for more helicopter support, the RAF still have eight (!) new Chinook HC.3 helicopters unavailable for operations because they were bought years ago "on the cheap" and are still being converted (they have no permit to fly) at huge cost, to a standard common with the existing HC.2 fleet. These very few examples and generalisations are but the tip of an iceberg of parsimony and neglect putting our armed forces, this country, its people and their vital interests at an ever-increasing risk.
This is why a group of people concerned for the effective defence of this country have formed a new, independent, non-political Tri-Service:
The United Kingdom National Defence Association (UKNDA).
Show your support JOIN THE UKNDA NOW
THE PROBLEM IS THAT...
Until 2007 no organisation existed to pro-actively inform the people of this country about the need for adequate, appropriate and properly resourced Armed Forces. The UKNDA was formed to fill that void.
By long standing convention (although recently that convention has been side-stepped - which points to the seriousness of the situation) the Chief of the Defence Staff and his three Service Chiefs do not air their problems in public; their financial battles with the Treasury and the Government are played out behind closed doors.