1981 Defence White Paper

The 1981 Defence White Paper (titled "The UK Defence Programme: The Way Forward" Cm 8288) was a major review of the United Kingdom's defence policy brought about by the Conservative government under the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The main author was the then Secretary of State for Defence, John Nott. The aim of the review was to reduce expenditure during the early 1980s recession and to focus on supporting NATO rather than out of area operations. It was ultimately judged however to have been extremely detrimental to the Defence of the Realm, being among other things widely considered to have been one of the contributing factors that led to the outbreak of the Falklands War.

The regular army was to be reduced to 135,000 men, a loss of 7,000, which was to be partly offset by the gradual expansion of the Territorial Army by a figure of 16,000. In Germany, Britain's NATO land commitment was to be reduced by about 2,000, giving a total of 55,000. This was to be achieved by the withdrawal of a divisional headquarters.

In Nott's statement, it was announced that four armoured regiments would be equipped with the Challenger tank, while there would be an increase in the order of the MILAN anti-tank missile.

This review proposed extensive cuts to the Royal Navy, including the sale of the new aircraft carrier Invincible to Australia. Under the review, the Royal Navy was focused primarily on anti-submarine warfare under the auspices of NATO. Any out-of-area amphibious operations were considered unlikely. The entire Royal Marine amphibious force was in jeopardy of being disbanded and the sale of Intrepid and Fearless was mooted. Although an additional Type 22 frigate was confirmed ordered, Nott stated that nine of the navy's 59 escorts would be decommissioned, mainly from the County, Leander, and Rothesay classes. This decision was attributed to the growing cost of refitting and maintaining older warships. Alongside the proposed hull cuts, Nott revealed that the navy would incur a manpower reduction of between 8,000 and 10,000 people.

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