Prospect national officer Mike Clancy, speaking on behalf of 20,000 civilian specialists in the Ministry of Defence, said: "We understand the revolution in military affairs. Civilian staff are already grappling with an MOD change programme bigger in scope than any other government department. For staff, the issue is how MOD handles a strategic shift of this type against the background of its own change initiative.

"Although today the focus may be on the armed forces, the department needs to consider the impact on civilian support, if the armed forces are to be expected to deal with multiple, concurrent missions."