PM concedes that axing around 11,000 personnel from army, navy and RAF will be 'difficult' for those affected but insists cuts are needed to 'modernise and update' UK forces
David Cameron has defended the decision to make 11,000 redundancies in the armed forces ? potentially including some troops now on the front line in Afghanistan.
The prime minister conceded that axing around 5,000 personnel from the army, 3,300 from the navy and 2,700 from the RAF would be "difficult" for those affected.
But he insisted the losses were necessary to "modernise and update" Britain's forces for future challenges.
Labour criticised the government for announcing details of the cuts at the same time Cameron has been suggesting the RAF could help enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
Last autumn's strategic defence and security review set out plans for reducing the size of the armed forces by 17,000 in total.
Some of that number will be met by not replacing people who were retiring or leaving for other reasons.
But defence officials disclosed that 11,000 personnel still face being made redundant on a compulsory or voluntary basis.
Commodore Jonathan Woodcock told a briefing for journalists that the first tranche would be notified whether they were being made redundant in September.
No one serving in Afghanistan at that time will be eligible to lose their jobs, but virtually all personnel currently serving in the country could be included, he said.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/01/david-cameron-defends-armed-forces-job-cuts
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