Dr David Blagden, Senior Lecturer in International Security, University of Exeter, predicted that the growing power of adversaries would introduce new challenges for the Royal Navy, including potentially having to fight for control of the sea or deny adversaries access to our own waters. 2 The then First Sea Lord and current Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, told us that this was “definitely” true for the maritime environment and that there was also an increase in the number and severity of state threats. Richard Moore, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, said in his first public speech “we are living through an era of dramatic change in the security landscape.” Witnesses to this and other inquiries, including the Government and the National Security Adviser, have agreed with this assessment. This environment is becoming more complex and less stable and these trends are likely to continue in the next five to ten years. The security environment informs the Navy’s mission and the force structure. 1Ģ The Royal Navy’s Role The Security Environmentħ. We are grateful to Alex Burton, who served as a Specialist Adviser on the inquiry after giving evidence at the 13 April oral evidence session. We have also resolved to visit Babcock’s shipyard in Rosyth and BAE Systems’ shipyard in Govan in the new year to continue the work begun in this inquiry.Ħ. As part of our work, we visited BAE Systems Submarine’s operations at Barrow and saw progress on the Astute and Dreadnought submarine programmes. Our inquiry was launched on 23 April 2021 and over the course of it we have accepted 42 pieces of written evidence and heard oral evidence from witnesses across four sessions.ĥ. The inquiry did not examine the logic behind Government ambitions for the Navy, technical issues relating to the design of individual platforms, or questions of personnel.Ĥ. This inquiry examines whether the Government’s ambitions for the Navy are adequately matched by the Navy’s current and planned capabilities and the procurement systems that deliver those capabilities. Last year we also began an inquiry into “Defence industrial policy: procurement and prosperity”, and we have drawn on the evidence we received as part of that inquiry to inform our conclusions in this report.ģ. Reports on “Future Anti-Ship Missile Systems: Joint inquiry with the Assemblée nationale’s Standing Committee on National Defence and the Armed Forces” and “Sunset for the Royal Marines? The Royal Marines and UK amphibious capability” were both produced in 2018. This report was completed before the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSbS), and also predates other significant developments in naval and shipbuilding policy, including the decision on the Type 31 programme, the delivery of the aircraft carriers and the IR and Defence and Security Industrial Strategy (DSIS). Our predecessor committees addressed questions of naval procurement and capabilities, including in a 2016 report on “Restoring the Fleet: Naval Procurement and the National Shipbuilding Strategy”. At that session we resolved to launch an inquiry into the Navy’s capabilities.Ģ. We took evidence from Dr Sidharth Kaushal, Research Fellow, Sea Power at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), and Rear Admiral (retd) Alex Burton, former Commander, UK Maritime Forces (2016–2017) and Director, UK Pathfinders at Rebellion Defence. As part of our inquiry into the outcomes of the IR, we held an oral evidence session on 13 April 2021 focusing on what it meant for the Navy. The result of the Integrated Defence and Security Review (IR) and the deployment of the carrier strike group to the Indo-Pacific have drawn additional attention to the Royal Navy this year.
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