Britain could have to make tough choices about its military priorities if the Libya campaign drags on, the head of the Royal Navy said Monday, in comments that called recent defence cuts into question.

Admiral Mark Stanhope, the First Sea Lord, said Britain might have to rethink its priorities if the operation went on longer than six months.

Elements of the campaign would have been cheaper and "much more reactive" if Britain had still had an aircraft carrier, he argued.

The Royal Navy's flagship HMS Ark Royal, and its Harrier jump jets, returned to base for the last time in December, leaving Britain without an aircraft carrier capable of launching jets for the next decade.

Britain's biggest active warship was axed as part of eight-percent defence spending cuts introduced by Prime Minister David Cameron's coalition government as part of its bid to get Britain's record deficit under control.

"How long can we go on as we are in Libya?" Stanhope asked at a media briefing.

"Certainly in terms of NATO's current time limit that has been extended to 90 days, we are comfortable with that.

"Beyond that, we might have to request the government to make some challenging decisions about priorities."

Britain has been one of the chief players in the NATO military alliance enforcing a United Nations mandate.

Their mission is to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians in Libya as leader Moamer Kadhafi attempts to crush a rebel uprising.

"If we do it longer than six months we will have to reprioritise forces. That is being addressed now," Stanhope said.

"It could be from around home waters. I will not prejudge what that decision will be."

But the admiral pointed out that Harriers could have been deployed from an aircraft carrier in 20 minutes rather than the 90 it takes to send Tornado and Typhoon jets from an airbase in Italy.

Britain's Defence Secretary Liam Fox said however that the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDRS), which ushered in the military cuts, would not be reopened.

"Operations in Libya are showing how capable we are post-SDSR as a leading military power with the fourth largest defence budget in the world," he said.

"We continue to have the resources necessary to carry out the operations we are undertaking and have spare capacity.

"Our planning assumptions remain valid and we have been able to effectively conduct missions over Libya. We are now progressing with the disposal of the Harrier force."

earlier related report
Powers plot 'post-Kadhafi' as rebels eye cash
Abu Dhabi (AFP) June 10, 2011 - Key powers have vowed to unlock a billion dollars for hard-pressed Libyan rebels in talks to map out a "post-Kadhafi Libya" as a fresh volley of NATO air strikes rocked the capital early Friday.

Libya's former foreign minister, Abdurrahman Shalgam, said the rebel National Transitional Council needed at least $3 billion over the next four months to pay its expenses as it battles to oust Moamer Kadhafi.

In a boost to the opposition, the United States joined Australia and Spain in recognising the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, with pressure mounting on the veteran leader to step down.

"Kadhafi's days are numbered. We are working with our international partners through the UN to plan for the inevitable: a post-Kadhafi Libya," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told talks in Abu Dhabi.

"Time is on our side," the chief US diplomat said, adding international military, economic and political pressure was mounting on the Libyan colonel to abandon his four decades in power at the helm of the north African nation.

"In the days ahead," she said, "we have to coordinate the many plans taking shape and work closely" with the NTC and Libyan people.

Clinton was meeting counterparts from NATO and other countries participating in the air strikes against Kadhafi's forces for a third round of Libya talks.

The chief US diplomat said later that "people close to Kadhafi" have been making continuous contacts with many different interlocutors about the "potential for a transition" to a new regime.

"There is not a clear way forward yet," she told a news conference, also referring to the NTC as "the legitimate interlocutor" of the Libyan people.

Clinton offered no direct US financial contribution to the rebels, pledging instead another "$26.5 million to help all the victims of this conflict, including Libyan refugees."

Such money will likely be distributed through relief agencies.

But Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Rome would provide the rebel council with loans and fuel products worth 300 to 400 million euros ($438 million to $584 million).

And his French counterpart, Alain Juppe, said Paris would release 290 million euros ($420.9 million) of frozen Libyan funds for the NTC.

In a sign of the continued pressure on the Kadhafi regime, a fresh wave of NATO air strikes hit the Libyan capital very early Friday, with three strong explosions shaking central Tripoli at around midnight. Other more distant explosions followed.

In the last two days, Tripoli has been targeted by the most intense NATO air raids since the international military campaign began on March 19.

The nominee to be the next US defence secretary Leon Panetta said the sustained economic, diplomatic and military pressure would likely lead Kadhafi to step down.

"I think there are some signs that -- if we continue the pressure, if we stick with it -- that ultimately Kadhafi will step down," Panetta told US lawmakers.

"Frankly, I think there are gains that have been made. We have seen the regime weakened significantly, we have seen the opposition make gains, both in the east and the west."

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade urged Kadhafi to step down as he became the first head of state to visit the rebels' bastion of Benghazi in eastern Libya.

"I look at you in the eyes... the sooner you go, the better," Wade said.

A member of the NTC said on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi meeting that an international fund aimed at helping Libya's rebels had "become operational" from Thursday.

A State Department official later told reporters "we have got commitments of something about $300 million that came out of today's meeting," including $180 million from Kuwait and $100 million from Qatar.

Four blasts shook Tripoli on Thursday afternoon and NATO said it hit an electronic warfare vehicle and a military training camp near Libya's third-largest city Misrata.

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