William Reynolds
@war_student
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Lecturer in Defence Studies @DSD_Kings @DefAcUK | Doctor in @warstudies | @CSNS_UK Associate | Anglo-Japanese grand strategy post-45 🇬🇧🇯🇵 | Views my own
UK
Joined December 2010
In the gap between the first wave of Options for Change notes (1991) and the final decision, its notable that the RAF Regiment papers were using data for Bloodhound's replacement which spelled out a de facto Patriot procurement.
Gloster Meteor target drone disintegrated by the impact of an inert Bristol Bloodhound ramjet-powered surface-to-air missile during trials at the RAAF Woomera Range Complex in the 1950s
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The spending uplift was never really going to kick in until 2027. Until that comes about, its back to the 3x Ds (Delay, Descope, Delete).
🚨EXCLUSIVE The Ministry of Defence is scrambling to find more than £2bn worth of cuts this year to avoid blowing its budget. @Telegraph has been leaked the internal MoD spending forecasts from this summer for the 2025/26 financial year. There is a **£2.6 billion** black
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Britain exited the Second World War financially exhausted but stable. Interestingly, there’s a significant argument which suggests because Britain didn’t have to rebuild from scratch, the inefficiencies and difficult modernisation were more baked into the economy.
UK threw away its commanding post-WW2 advantage, which was itself just the continuation of 250 years of dominance, with the worst economic policy of any major country in free Europe. Many are saying it!
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🇫🇷✈️On France ordering 285 Rafale ✈️🇫🇷 As expected, contrary to what many commentators have announced, France does not currently plan to increase the size of its Rafale fleet from 225 to 286 aircraft. The order for an additional 61 aircraft is intended to offset: - attrition
@Etienne_Marcuz @clavierwrkspace @Mr_Mat_fr Bingo (La Tribune)- Le 1er paragraphe sert un peu à se dédouaner hein, et je ne comprends pas qu'on s'empresse à considérer le PLF2026 comme une source fiable (j'ai bossé toute l'année sur le budget américain ça m'a servi de leçon) augurant de la fameuse actualisation de la LPM.
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Would make sense. Keeps the RNZN closely aligned with the RAN, capitalises on a hot production line and looks towards Japan as an increasingly active state. The difficulty is in whether Japan can manage two export programs simultaneously of such a scale starting from scratch.
RNZN Chief of Navy met with Japan’s Defense Minister and conveyed Wellington’s interest in introducing the upgraded version of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Mogami-class frigate, known as New FFM 🇯🇵 🇳🇿 Story by @TakahashiKosuke
https://t.co/bFkalaSv8R
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Dr Will Reynolds (@war_student) said "Geography, threat perception & strategic culture all ensure that a ‘formal’ alliance remains a distant ideal". He added, "Both nations should continue to foster growing links at the political & official level". ➡️ https://t.co/ZmhTEUEDnV
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Worth noting the historical position for the UK is this is a positive. Though India plays as a 'Third Actor', with its strategic culture grounded in the NAM principle, it shares similar strategic interests to Britain in upholding good order and resisting Chinese influence.
The WORST deal ever neogtiated by any Government since WW2.
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And we have our NAD https://t.co/vhWqHZ0UY6 UK appoints weapons chief to fix wasteful defence spending
ft.com
Rupert Pearce’s appointment comes as government seeks to deliver pledge to drive growth through increased military spending
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The main Cabinet as a system of governance is generally recognized to be too large and unwieldy in its current format (even back in the 1950s). It is the Cabinet Committees where one should be looking for the cut and thrust of government.
In Britain we have 27 (twenty seven) ministers who attend Cabinet - an insane number that highlights our bloated government and makes meetings utterly useless. In Argentina, Javier Milei has reduced the number of federal ministries from 18 (eighteen) to just eight.
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Happy to have given my two cents on future Anglo-Japanese defence relations. It’s all positive and going in the right direction. But structural obstacles remain. And it is risky to harken back to the ‘old alliance’ as it’s all very different today.
‘Geography, threat perception and strategic culture all ensure that a “formal” alliance remains a distant ideal,’ writes @war_student, @DSD_Kings
#BigAsk #BritainsWorld
https://t.co/m9l4N0CaYs
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Should 🇬🇧 and 🇯🇵 move towards a formal defence alliance? We asked 7 experts in today’s #BigAsk ✍️ @JohnHemmings2, Takeshi Ishikawa, @w_d_james, @war_student, @rena_in_dc, @shetlerjones, @MichitoTsuruoka
#BritainsWorld
https://t.co/m9l4N0CaYs
britainsworld.org.uk
The Big Ask | No. 40.2025
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‘To signal resolve credibly across the #IndoPacific, and to bolster deterrence against coercive revisionism, deepening 🇬🇧-🇯🇵 security ties is indispensable,’ argues @rena_in_dc, @SAISHopkins
#BigAsk #BritainsWorld
https://t.co/m9l4N0CaYs
britainsworld.org.uk
The Big Ask | No. 40.2025
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Britain's power is residual. A legacy of Imperial Resources, the Industrial Revolution maximizing a smaller population base and not having most of its industry flattened. That Britain has maintained its residual power for so long is quite a testament to its practitioners.
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This was often a critique leveled at Japan in the 1960s and 1970s. The reality was of course that Germany (even only half of it) and especially Japan had structural benefits which Britain could never hope for. Combined with effective management and here you are.
@AscendedYield @AaronBastani God it’s just so sad when you type it all out in a single tweet isn’t it. Britain was so maniacally pummelled into the ground by the postwar consensus that Germany - a country that received less Marshall aid, had just lost a war, had no empire, and no reserve currency -
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Japan days away from running out of Asahi Super Dry after cyber attack via @FT I can feel the moral component of my fighting power dropping dramatically…
ft.com
Vast majority of factories of nation’s most popular beer have stopped work this week
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Chinook fleet = best fleet. No biased influence of course…
🚁💥 @NATO forces have crushed key air-defence targets, pushing the enemy back. Now the Land Forces move in to finish the job, working with Joint Aviation Command’s Apache, Wildcat and Chinook to hit hard and seize ground. #CobraWarrior
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Go figure, the Telegraph that hosted a Putin apologist last week is now taking sensationalist pot shots at our own military. The article was able to find one Helicopter aircrew member who asked for non-leather boots in 2019 as its sole example👇.🧵1/n
🔴 RAF air crews win battle... for vegan uniforms https://t.co/yVH2tAONpM
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I believe this is what they call ‘the long screwdriver approach’
New: Hegseth summoned top officers to Virginia to deliver a speech about the "warrior ethos" & outline a new vision for the US military, sources say. He's also expected to discuss new readiness, fitness and grooming standards. Plan is to record it and post it to his socials later
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