{"id":17313,"date":"2014-12-09T12:15:47","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T01:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=17313"},"modified":"2018-10-30T09:38:49","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T22:38:49","slug":"the-british-military-presence-in-the-persian-gulf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-british-military-presence-in-the-persian-gulf\/","title":{"rendered":"The British military presence in the Persian Gulf"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pictured<\/a>The British Defence Secretary\u2019s announcement of plans to develop a naval base at Bahrain<\/a> may be confirmation that the United Kingdom\u2019s policy as to the nature and extent of its overseas defence commitments is at last being settled.<\/p>\n

There are some important parallels here to the challenges that Australia is facing in its own force structure and military posture, particularly in relation to our interaction with the United States. Britain\u2019s key problem, as it finally comes to terms with the limits of its military capability, is determining where it can make the most difference, not only in its own right, but in support of the alliance with the United States.<\/p>\n

The long-term implications of America\u2019s \u2018pivot\u2019 to the Pacific at a time when the US military machine is under increasing fiscal pressure are inescapable. Not only will Europe have to do without the levels of American military presence that it has grown accustomed to over nearly seventy years, but the United Kingdom in particular must decide where it can contribute in ways that are significant in military effects, rather than \u2018flags in the sand\u2019. The British armed forces have a lot of capability, but\u2014in relative terms\u2014much less than in previous decades, as is apparently becoming clear with the current RAF operations in the Middle East<\/a>. Choices must be made and it\u2019s logical that those be for capabilities which the remainder of Western European states lack and for deployments for which they have little inclination.<\/p>\n

Britain has long claimed global interests and the intent to maintain global military capabilities. No British government, particularly one with the Conservatives as the major partner within the coalition, will openly depart from those ambitions in the current complex strategic environment. Indeed, as shown with East Timor in 1999, the 2013 Philippine typhoon and, most recently, the search for MH 370, the British will always try to do what they can if there are urgent needs in the Indo-Pacific. But that\u2019s not the same as a commitment to a permanent presence, or to reinforcing a presence for indefinite periods when required.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the UK Defence Secretary\u2019s declaration that Britain \u2018will now be based again in the Gulf for the long term\u2019 was unequivocal. There\u2019s real sense in that. A UK maritime task group can swing between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean relatively quickly, while air and land forces have extensive experience of deploying into the Middle East. With its long term interests in the Middle East\u2014as well as the close interconnection of events there with the situation in the Near East and Europe\u2014Britain may well now have determined that the Persian Gulf and the north-western Indian Ocean represent the geographic limits of what can best be termed the \u2018beat\u2019 of the British armed forces. That\u2019s likely to be particularly true for the Royal Navy, centred as it will be on the two new Queen Elizabeth-class carriers with the F-35B, the Type 45 air-defence ships and the seven Astute-class nuclear submarines.<\/p>\n

This is a logical approach for the British, one which has the potential to reduce the American burden by freeing up carrier battle groups and other forces for operations in the Indo-Pacific\u2014and for that reason welcome to Washington. It\u2019s also one which, although the British face their own difficult decisions in their next Strategic Defence and Security Review in 2015, has the merit of being affordable in the long term. We need to be thinking in similar ways in Australia.<\/p>\n

James Goldrick is a fellow of the RAN\u2019s Sea Power Centre and\u00a0an adjunct professor at UNSW Canberra, Australian Defence Force Academy.\u00a0Image courtesy of UK Ministry of Defence<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The British Defence Secretary\u2019s announcement of plans to develop a naval base at Bahrain may be confirmation that the United Kingdom\u2019s policy as to the nature and extent of its overseas defence commitments is at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":17324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,457,1067,293,141],"class_list":["post-17313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-indo-pacific","tag-nuclear-submarines","tag-persian-gulf","tag-pivot","tag-united-kingdom"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe British military presence in the Persian Gulf | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-british-military-presence-in-the-persian-gulf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The British military presence in the Persian Gulf | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The British Defence Secretary\u2019s announcement of plans to develop a naval base at Bahrain may be confirmation that the United Kingdom\u2019s policy as to the nature and extent of its overseas defence commitments is at ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-british-military-presence-in-the-persian-gulf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-09T01:15:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-29T22:38:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/45155720.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Goldrick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Goldrick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-british-military-presence-in-the-persian-gulf\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/45155720.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/45155720.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Pictured is HMS Ambush returning to HMNB Clyde in Scotland. 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