Letter: Keeping afloat

WHILE the Ministry of Defence rarely reveals its contingency plans, George Leslie (Letters, 30 November) need not worry about protection of our oil assets.

With techniques ranging from Halo (High Altitude Low Opening) parachute drops through various helicopter and fast craft attack procedures to the secret submersible techniques of the Special Boat Service, there is a whole range of options, none of which needs a blue-water ship.

And rapidly becoming a serious aerial resource are the Predator RPAS (Remotely Piloted Air Systems) of 39 Sqdn RAF which can target individual terrorists without warning.

Anyone who has watched the regular “Operation Joint Warrior” exercises off the coast of Wester Ross, Sutherland and Caithness would realise just how much amphibious power we have.

However, an independent Scotland would have one defence advantage.

The present defence budget when all support services and contingency funds are taken into account is going to be around £50 billion (rather than the pure around £38bn often mentioned), of which Scotland’s share is around £4bn.

An independent Scotland would not have Trident expenditure, redundant carriers (replaced by RPAS launched from small ships) or the forces required to interfere in other people’s countries.

This would mean a defence force costing around £2.5bn with a saving of £1.5bn, meaning more spending on social issues or even lower tax.

Bruce D Skivington

Strath

Gairloch, Wester Ross