More Prang for the Pound

"The lion's wings have molted," cried London's Tory Daily Mail last week. "Our planes are out of date," complained the Liberal News Chronicle. Said the wor ried Manchester Guardian: "The gap in the air defenses of Britain is disturbingly evident."

In press and Parliament, a growing concern was heard last week over what Brit ain is getting for its huge arms expenditures ($4.6 billion a year, more than 35% of the budget). Two years ago, before the U.S. got its new look, the British decided to concentrate on the Royal Air Force's atom bombers and supersonic fighters. The Royal Navy is no longer able to keep up with the Joneses, or even the Ivanovs. The British army is now held down to 450,000 men. Yet after these two years of "superpriority," most R.A.F. squadrons are flying obsolescent aircraft, which are no match for Russian MIGs.

Old & New Fashions. Prototype models of superb British swept-wing jets annually impress the world at the Farnborough air show, yet the R.A.F.'s Fighter Command still depends for its frontier strength on a nucleus of Sabre jets, supplied by the U.S. and Canada. Britain's V-class bombers (Valiants, Vulcans and Victors) are still not operational, and to deliver its atom bombs, Bomber Command relies on the twin-engine Canberra, now officially classed as a "medium bomber." British designs are often first-rate, but British production is sluggish. The major difficulty is that the British Cabinet is still unsure how best to apportion its defense funds to meet the facts of the Hydrogen Age. "The H-bomb," confessed Sir Winston Churchill last month, "has fundamentally altered the entire problem of defense . . . Considerations founded even upon the atom bomb have become obsolescent, almost old-fashioned."

Less & More. Britain's new Defense Minister, vigorous Harold MacMillan, after only six weeks in office, has set himself the goal of beefing up British defenses while lowering British taxes--to get more prang for the pound, a British version of more bang for a buck. MacMillan has made several big decisions. Items: P: Britain's antiaircraft command, which employs 100,000 regulars and reserves, is soon to be abolished. Reason: the Red air force's sweptwing, supersonic T-39 bomber (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS) flies well above the range of Britain's heaviest ack-ack guns. MacMillan hopes to replace the gun batteries with radar-directed rockets, able to find and destroy enemy bombers traveling at 1,000 m.p.h. at heights up to 60,000 ft. But such rockets might take years to perfect and produce. P: The Royal Navy, most of whose ships are out of date, will concentrate still more heavily on 1) frigates, 2) carriers, 3) submarines. Three Tiger-class cruisers now under construction will be the last gun-cruisers built for the Royal Navy: henceforth, Britain expects to arm all its heavier vessels with guided missiles. What might happen to the Navy while the missiles are being developed has many an old sea salt worried. Russia already has 30 cruisers to Britain's 26, said 81-year-old Lord Chatfield last week. Chatfield, who was Admiral Beatty's flag captain in the Battle of Jutland, warned the House of Lords: "It's the same old game--wait for the scientists. But if you wait for the scientists, you wait forever and never build anything."

P:The British army will disband eight infantry battalions (extra ones created during the Korean crisis), largely because it is not getting enough recruits to man them. Tactics and weapons will be revamped, in the light of experience gained in atomic maneuvers in West Germany.

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