Think tanks
WHILE we wait for reform, I have a practical suggestion. Tom King is lumber- ing forward with his proposals to spend less money on soldiers and more on tanks. For the surviving armoured regiments he is ordering the latest bespoke model from Vickers, with all the costs that such a decision entails. Militarily and financially it seems to add up to a false economy. Instead, he should buy Russian tanks. Whatever else may be in short supply, tanks are in surplus — even the navy, I believe, has more tanks than most Nato land forces. Tried and tested, ineffective against trolleybus barricades but otherwise reliable, their price reflecting the econo- mics of scale and the need for hard currency, they must represent unbeatable value. Mr King might even be able to afford some soldiers for them, and in any future war they should be just as good as the Russian tanks on the other side.
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