Search This Blog

Friday, April 29, 2011

Dutch tank crews take aim at cutbacks


Hundreds of tank crew members protested at military spending cuts that will leave the Netherlands with no main battle tanks for the first time since the second world war and could restrict the country’s role in future international military interventions.

The protest on Thursday, part of a wave of opposition among the Dutch military, was aimed at cutbacks announced this month that will reduce defence spending from €8.5bn ($12.6bn) this year to €7.5bn in 2015, eliminating 12,000 of the armed forces’ 59,000 personnel. The air force will lose 19 of its 87 F-16 fighter jets and the navy four of its 10 minesweepers.

“It is like a death in the family,” said a protesting tank officer, who asked to remain anonymous. “We are still in mourning.”

Read more

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

The material is being made available in an effort to advance understanding arms trade activities, for non-profit research and educational purposes only.

I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

This is a completely non-commercial site for private personal use. No fee is charged, and no money is made off of the operation of this site.