G3 Defence

"May you live in interesting times" is reported to be one of three ancient Chinese curses or proverbs. The second is "May you come to the attention of those in authority". The third is "May you find what you are looking for".

No one can dispute that we are living in interesting times – the Arab Spring being one of the most dramatic manifestations. However massive economic uncertainty has the potential to do as much harm to some countries as a small war.

It is against this background that the UK defence industry faced with reduced orders from both the world market and their own domestic armed forces has been obliged to make cuts in staff and production. The impact of these cuts is not only felt by the men and women – some of whom have given most of their working lives to the defence industry – but also by the component industry that supports the larger organisations. Prior to and during World War II some defence manufacturing plants were located away from the south east where they were within range of medium range enemy – sadly these are now the areas where employment is hardest to find.

With this unpredictability and changes in the market the readers of G2, G3 and G4 are very busy men and women. Time is valuable and with this in mind we at Jon Philips have decided that the best of G2 our publication that covers security and intelligence and G4 that covers logistics would be incorporated into an enhanced G3 – in effect readers get three magazines in one.

The year 2012 may be tough and challenging for servicemen and women and the industry that supports them. All of us will hope that we find what we are looking for.