mics HELP out IN THE BIISH FEBRUARY 1980
10p
Landlocked Rhodesia has been the unusual sphere of activity this year for nine officers and ratings of the Royal Navy'5 Medical Branch who form part of the British medical team flown out to help counter health hazards faced by forces in the bush.
Welfare funds’ cash boost Welfare funds of ships and establishments are to receive a £43,000 boost to offset sortie of the ravages of inflation. The General Welfare Grant, which has remained unchanged at £27,000 for more than 20 cars. goes to .lI70.(X)0 and is also to be for reviewed regularly in future. The higher grant for next year means, for example. that a Leander-class frigate which has been receiving about £95 will now get about £260. This is based on an increase from 36p to £1 per head.
1980‘-'81,
WELCOMED With welfare funds used for
recreational. sporting, and social activities, the increase
grant,
whose value has drop dramatically with the years, will be welcomed. Welcomed too will be the increase in grants to ships when they commission and their needs are usually greatest. Here the increase is about 160 per cent. givin a Leander about £330 instea of about £125. The mone for allocation as the Sports uipment Grant has been increased by 9226.000. in the
The R.N. officers and ratings who became involved in this unique 0 ration by the Commonweal Ceasefire Monitoring Group have been working in various assembly areas. Their duties have included looking after the medical needs of the Patriotic Front and treating men, women, and children. The Navy group. which flew to Rhodesia in the New Year. includes three officers from R.N. Hos ital Haslar—-Sur .Licut-Cdr P. Clarke, Surg. "cut. 5. S. Ridout and Surg. Lieut. D. M. and one from R.N. Coupcr Hospital Pl outh, Surg. LieutCdr. H. O’ onnell. .
—
Ratings
The ratings are MT 2 S. M. McArthur and MAs K. arvey and P. Newton from Haslar). and Clarke and J. 0. LMAs M. Ta lor (both from Pl outh). of the ere are also 23 Royal Marines in Rhodesia comprising an 18~man monitoring team at Cam Kilo on the Botswana border. oolting.after 2(1) ZANLA soldiers, and a five-man ZANLA commissioners‘ team based at
gall .
mltqil bers
Bulawayo. Senior R.M. officer is Lieut—Col. D. L. Drysdale. who is heading the Bulawayo-based team.
Polaris to have
Development
of
a new
warhead
will enable Britain's Royal Navy Polaris force to remain full effective for at least another dcca e. MP5 were told this when nearof the programme _to completion provide the new warhead was disclosed, althou n no detail was iven. Codename Chevaline an initiated in the early 1970s. the £1,000 million programme includes changes
in the fire control system and involves advanced penetration aids and the ability to manoeuvre the payload in space as the missle ap roaches target. ut it was not the same as the MIRV system which enables the warhead to split into numerous missiles. the Commons were told. The Defence Secretary Mr. Francis Pym) said the new war cad
new
wrh
successfully passed a series of flight trials and the development was close to completion. Deplo ent had
would begin soon after, an that would maintain the full effectiveness of Britain's strategic deterrent into the 1990s. He described the development as a "vitally important im rovement." The programme had en funded and managed entirely by the United
with the full co-operation lof(in51domUnited States Government. e
The Minister said the Polaris force was run by the Royal Navy with great skill and dedication. ln the decade or more of its operation, covering 114 individual submarine patrols, there had never been a moment's intermission in its standing readiness on station. Continued In back page.