Austerity means sharing among allies way of the future: Brit defence chief

OTTAWA – Britain’s top military commander says leaner defence budgets are here to stay and Allied nations will likely find themselves sharing in ways they may not have in the past.

Like his Canadian counterpart, Gen. Sir Nick Houghton has been grappling with budget cuts that will reduce the size of the British regular force by 20,000 members over the next six years.

Most of the cuts will affect the army, but the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will also feel the pain.

The Harper government’s most recent budget left the Canadian military’s bottom line untouched, but shifted $3.1 billion of capital spending off to sometime in the future.

National Defence has already been through two recent cuts that took upwards of $2.1 billion out of its annual $20-billion appropriation.

Houghton says austerity will be an enduring factor, not just a passing one, and that partnerships that pool and share capability should be a model for the future.