UK out of service date for the .303 Bren?

[Lee Enfield]

Storeage of kit is always a thorny problem. To store it in what are now commercially run Ordnance Depots costs money. You could argue that there is absolutely no need to store valuable MAN lorry spares or Land Rover spares when a Field workshop order for, say, a rebuilt rear axle is directed straight to the UK distributor who sends it out to the unit as he would an order to the MAN lorry depot in Crewe.

A lot of stuff is simply not serviced now due to costs. Why repair a fairly cheap set of fixed focus binoculars that cost £70 or a quartz wristwatch that costs £22? Just replace it and send the old ones back to the manufacturer who decides if it's even economic to repair. I often used to quote the new cost of L4 and L7 BFA's against the cost of having them rebuilt..... Do we train apprentices over 3 years to repair night vision kit? Or do we let an unskilled(?) fitter do any un-important external fixes and send the internally damaged unit back to Pilkington for a like-new exchange unit?

A difficult one that I have had to see both sides of

Binoculars or watches really who cares?

Jet turbine blades or complete engines for aircraft built 30-40 years ago and still in front line service...or trucks...

When you are talking to the local unit RSM and WO and they mention that 50-70% of their support vehicles are broke down or canibalized for spares and don't run you wonder if they could support any real combat operations.

Shouldn't the small arms stand be 200% reserve & primary issue?

They aren't something you can supply tomorrow if needed.

I note comments regarding the French adoption of the HK 416, being for 100,000 rifles supplied over 4-5 years!

I don't think a future opponent will give us that long to arm up. Having unarmed manpower didn't work very well for the Russians during WWI/2 or the UK during Ww2...Remember all the pictures of the troops training with broomsticks??

Being an island doesn't protect the UK the way it did in 1940...nor North America.

If in 1936 the Canadian MGO councilled that he needed 500,000 stored rifles and our population is now 4 times larger today, does having 100,000 rifles make sense?