EU could halt weapons exports to Britain if war breaks out

All the more reason to make new arms factories and go into tank production ourselves again.
We did after all invent the tank, it's absurd that we no longer make our own armoured fighting vehicles.

And what a joke the AJAX fiasco has been.
We should have built the next gen version of the Warrior instead of going for an "international" option.

yeah probably.... but unfortunately we can't afford to. Probably best if we dress our squaddies in pink tutu skirts and hope our enemies laugh themselves to death.....

We don't have the industrial base anymore....we cannot manufacture arms and ammunition at the scales required...the country can't afford it....welcome to the world of opportunity costs

Because the Tories and Labour have shortsightedly dismantled it, in order to be more European and integrated in the EU market.
It was absurd.

Industry required coal and steel. We still have vast coal reserves below us and a lot of ore.
We could revive the steel industry and with it the arms industry.
And if we did that, within a few years we'd be able to defend ourselves, but as you say, it requires cash.

As things are, we'd have to borrow. It's not a good option but with the threat from Putin being what it is, and the risk of a NATO country being invaded, we need to be prepared for war in order to prevent war.

the overarching principle at the moment though is that we have a nuclear deterrent...well...RN tests the other week aside....also, I don't accept the premise of the articles posted as being valid though...for one thing as NATO members there is a mutual defence pact. Buts its all a bit up in the air at the moment don't you think? There's a lot of scrabbling around with countries suddenly waking up and finding out that Russia and Putin aren't really that nice and whilst thankful for all the money they've pocketed they are now rather fucked...France on the other hand talks a big game but are just as fucked as we are but they to have nukeybangbangs....so yeah.... it's all fun and games at the moment and may well take about a decade to settle down..


Was also thinking of Germany....they're in a bit of a pickle as well...they're floundering around trying to figure out how to respond to a situation they weren't prepared for having jumped into bed with Russia and sucked Putin's dick for many years. Which to be fair is the same as the UK; corporate UK was the largest washer of Russian money, the largest supplier of dodgy legal advise to the cleptocracy and the accountancy firms being the purveyors of magical advise for hiding and ferreting funds around the globe....all with the tacit consent UK regulators and UK MPs/MEPs....all enjoying Russian mafia money...now we're suddenly having to gear up and think of them as nasty folk that maybe we shouldn't have been in bed with in the first place....sucks huh!

Its all fun though.....nothing will happen....for one thing the Russians are fucked for the next 30/40 years so we have a bit of time to mull this one over....break out the tea and bikkies...start thinking about exactly what we want the UK armed Forces to look like and what role is envisaged and what posture we want to assume and what they need to do all that....lots to think about....coupled with the fact that as a country...we're broke...

If Eu NATO members not selling us weapons if they fight the Ruskies is an issue then maybe the UK should concentrate on defending UK territory at the expense of joining in the European mainland theatre.

Unless we were to withdraw from NATO (I don't recommend doing that) we're obliged by treaty to assist.