Craig Langford
Trained as a mechanical engineer, Craig took an unconventional route into journalism, bringing with him a rare technical precision and analytical depth that continues to set his reporting apart.
Defence plan delay has damaged UK credibility, MPs warn
The Public Accounts Committee says years without a credible long-term investment plan have weakened the UK's deterrent and has demanded the Ministry of Defence explain how it is shielding suppliers from the harm caused by the delay.
Peer suggests UAE money could help fund defence plan
A former chief of the defence staff has suggested in the House of Lords that the wealth of Gulf allies such as the UAE might be tapped to help get the UK's delayed Defence Investment Plan over the line.
Support deal planned for Royal Navy mine disposal system
The Ministry of Defence intends to award a two-year, £12 million contract to keep the Royal Navy's Seafox mine disposal system in service, the underwater vehicle used by its Hunt and Sandown class vessels to find and destroy sea mines.
Heckler & Koch set to supply UK machine guns for a decade
The Ministry of Defence intends to award Heckler & Koch a ten-year contract worth around GBP 70 million to supply L7A2 general-purpose machine guns and associated equipment to the British armed forces.
Autonomous weapons an ‘Oppenheimer moment’, peer warns
A Conservative peer has told the House of Lords that autonomous weapons may represent a threshold as significant as the arrival of nuclear arms, warning that, unlike nuclear weapons, they are cheap, scalable and hard to contain.
UK had Gulf bases but no ships to use them, peer says
The UK had military bases across the Gulf but largely no vessels stationed in them when conflict with Iran erupted earlier this year, a peer has told the House of Lords.
British aircraft carrier to set sail from Norway
HMS Prince of Wales has completed a port visit to Stavanger and is prepared to continue Operation Firecrest, the ship announced on Saturday, with the carrier having addressed a minor technical issue during its time alongside.
Britain explores ground-based air defence radar testing
The Ministry of Defence is sounding out industry on developing a ground-based system to test the accuracy of air defence radars, a method intended to replicate the flight checks currently flown to verify them.
First prototypes of troop-protection jammer due in 2027
Project Crenic, the British programme developing electronic countermeasures to protect troops, vehicles and bases, passed its critical design review last summer, with the first prototype systems expected in early 2027 for testing.
British guns on US ships but few British ones, MPs told
A British firm's naval guns are fitted to almost all US Navy and Coast Guard ships but hardly any Royal Navy vessels, the Treasury Committee has heard, in an example of domestic capability the UK is said to be overlooking.
