Operational independence depends on whether a force can deploy without allied assets. The withdrawn Middle East minehunters show how a small national presence can disappear just when it becomes useful. Ageing River-class OPVs also limit what Britain can sustain in the Indo-Pacific. Counting allied capabilities as substitutes for British capacity makes a NATO-first force less able to respond when allied consensus is absent.
Chapter · 1:41:35-1:44:06
A NATO-first force may lose independent crisis options
The plan's claim to be NATO-first but not NATO-only is compared with forces increasingly designed around allied contributions.