British defence choices beyond ‘Options for Change’

Abstract

It is now almost three years since Britain's Defence Secretary first outlined to Parliament the tentative conclusions of his Optionsfor Chlange defence review. Implementation of the cuts is well under way, and is due to be completed by the mid-iggos. In the process, the number of regular personllel in Britain's armed services is planned to fall from around 308,ooo in I990 to 249,000 by the time restructuring is complete a reduction of some 20 per cent.2 Optionsfor Change has not aroused the same vigorous public debate as took place in the early Ig8os over questions such as whether Britain should modernize or abandon its nuclear deterrent, and whether it should emphasize continental or maritime forces.3 However, a number of politicians and defence experts have taken issue with Optionsfor Change, and have argued that it does not provide the most appropriate long-term force structure for Britain in the postCold War world. Some have suggested that the cuts go too far, and that British military involvement in the Persian Gulf and in the former Yugoslavia indicates the need to rescind some of the reductions. Critics have focused especially on the cuts in infantry regiments, and in February I993 the government did decide to leave the Army with 40 infantry battalions rather than the planned 38.'