Is The British Purchase of the F-35 At Risk?

Ted Bromund / July 08, 2009

The British Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has published a “Strategic Security Review.” The IPPR is not just any think tank: in the 1990s, its work formed the basis for many of the domestic programs that New Labour undertook when it came into power in 1997. It has since lost a little of its former eminence, and has never been a leading voice in defense and security affairs, but it is still one of the largest, best-funded, and best-connected think tanks in Britain.

Among the conclusions of the “Review,” which was composed by a commission that included co-chairman Lord George Robertson, a former NATO Secretary General and British Secretary of State for Defense, is the finding that Britain should consider the “complete cancellation of some equipment programs.” Specifically at risk are the new Type 45 air defense destroyer, the Astute class of hunter-killer submarines, Britain’s two new aircraft (more…)