The UK's armed forces Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen Sir David Richards has said losing military capability as a result of defence budget cuts will pose risks - but they will be manageable.
Lord Boyce a former Chief of the Defence Staff has said the government has taken an "enormous gamble" with the UK's defences with its spending cuts
Ex-defence chiefs and ministers lined up to attack the defence review in the House of Lords.
Marshall of the RAF Lord Craig of Radley, who was chief of the defence staff from 1988 to 1991, attacked the "savage savings" in the defence review. He said cutting the number of frigates and destroyers to 19 and the scrapping of Nimrod spy planes had "collectively blown an enormous hole in national maritime capability".
Lord Boyce and Lord Craig were joined in their criticism by General Lord Walker of Aldringham, chief of the defence staff from 2003 to 2006, who branded the review "merely a salami-slicing exercise".
The former defence chiefs were followed by a string of Labour former defence ministers who attacked the review, which will cut about 17,000 personnel and 25,000 civilian jobs from the MoD.
The cuts in defence are politically driven and are nothing more than a head count reduction that takes little account of Armed Forces capability and the value for money that employing civilians in supporting the front line generates.
If the cuts were not politically driven the government would have looked at alternatives for producing value for money, such as cutting back on the use of consultants and civilianising posts that do not need military experience.
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