Scotland defence
First, Scottish independence is a real possibility.
Second, as noted in your report, Scotland owns about 8 per cent of all Ministry of Defence moveable property. We also own the immovable UK government property in Scotland, such as bases and training areas.
Since the rest of the UK will want all the large warships, Scotland could select what we need from the rest. We could also claim a share of the Typhoons, plus helicopters and transports. Alternatively, as one of your contributors pointed out, we could lease suitable Saab jets.
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Hide AdScottish regiments would form a multi-role brigade with the usual support services – engineers, communication and transport.
Third, the Scottish Defence Force would defend England’s back, and vice versa, so both parties would have to agree an appropriate sharing of resources.
Fourth, since there is a great deal of movement of forces at present, it would make sense to locate in Scotland forces that might be placed under Scottish control on independence.
As Clive Fairweather and others have pointed out, there should be a special forces unit to protect the North Sea assets, whether Scotland is independent or not. It takes years to build such an expert body, so that task should start now. Since Scotland will remain one of the founders of the Commonwealth, with the Queen as head of state, there need be no problem in units having mixed Scottish and other Commonwealth personnel to start with.
Scotland needs her own armed forces in order to be able to steer clear of rash and counter-productive foreign adventures, but both parties will depend on a close defensive alliance.
John Smart
Kinneddar Street
Lossiemouth
Bruce Skivington (Letters, 16 July) forgets that it is the moral responsibility of a nation to defend its population from external threat. There is not a choice.
A defenceless nation soon discovers threats that had never been imagined before, and an independent Scotland would have plenty to defend – space to live in, and a source of oil being two.
Malcolm Parkin
Gamekeepers Road
Kinnesswood, Kinross