Sir, The debate about defence spending (“Defence spending squeeze stirs new Tory rebellion”, Mar 6, and letters, Mar 7) should concentrate more on how the defence budget is to be spent. This country is no longer a great global military power. In order to defend this country we need more soldiers with better equipment on the battlefield. That means more helicopters, armoured personnel carriers and ground-attack aircraft.
We do not need new aircraft carriers, Trident submarines, nuclear weapons or highly expensive, high-tech fighter aircraft. These are nothing but “toys for the boys”, which senior serving officers always love.
With the exception of France, which, like us, suffers from a sense of post-imperial grandeur, our European allies do not feel the need to indulge in this sort of posturing, and nor should we.
Brian Smith
Wells, Somerset
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