1957 Defence White Paper The 1957 White Paper on Defence ( Cmnd . 230 ) was a British white paper setting forth the future as seen of the British military . It had profound effects on all aspects of the defence industry but probably the most affected was the British aircraft industry . Duncan Sandys , the recently appointed Minister of Defence , produced the paper . The decisions were influenced by two major factors : the finances of the country and the coming of the missile age . Where before combat in the air would have been between aircraft ; high flying bombers carrying nuclear weapons and fast interceptor fighter aircraft trying to stop them , now the guided missile , particularly the surface - to - air missile threatened all aircraft . The emergent space age showed that missiles could also deliver those nuclear weapons anywhere in the world . Main aspects of paper . Aircraft industry reorganization . The paper stated that the aircraft industry should re - organise ; several smaller companies becoming a few larger ones . It was made clear that new contracts would only be given to such merged firms , including the only new aircraft project , what would become the TSR - 2 . Under pressure , in 1960 English Electric , Bristol Aeroplane Company and Vickers - Armstrong merged to form the British Aircraft Corporation , or BAC . Hunting Aircraft soon joined the BAC group . In the same year , de Havilland , Blackburn Aircraft and Folland merged into Hawker Siddeley , which had already consisted of Armstrong Whitworth , Avro , Gloster and Hawker since 1935 . Westland Aircraft took over all the helicopter manufacturers , including Saunders - Roe , Fairey Aviation and Bristol ' s helicopter work . Saunders - Roe ' s hovercraft work was spun off and merged with Vickers Supermarine as the British Hovercraft Corporation . Very few companies were left independent after this wave of mergers , leaving only Handley Page as a major independent , along with the smaller companies like Auster , Boulton Paul , Miles Aircraft , Scottish Aviation and Short Brothers . Most of these disappeared by 1970s , leaving only Scottish Aviation to merge into British Aerospace in 1977 , and Shorts , which was purchased by Bombardier in 1989 . Engine companies were likewise " encouraged " to merge . In 1959 Armstrong Siddeley and Bristol ' s engine division merged to become Bristol Siddeley , but were shortly purchased by Rolls - Royce in 1966 , leaving RR as the only major British aircraft engine manufacturer . Reduction in manned aircraft projects . With the development of missiles , those roles that missiles could cover meant that certain aircraft in development could be cancelled . These included the next generation of supersonic interceptor for high flying bombers , the F . 155 and the interim aircraft that would have covered it until introduction in 1963 , namely the Saunders - Roe SR . 53 , Saunders - Roe SR . 177 . The Avro 730 supersonic light bomber was also cancelled , as was the Blue Rosette nuclear weapon to arm it . Oddly the Blue Envoy surface - to - air missile was also cancelled , although it would be more in keeping with the spirit of the paper . The English Electric P . 1 ( which would become the Lightning ) was spared only because it was so far advanced to bother cancelling . Restructuring of the British Army . The British Army was to be reduced in size and reorganised to reflect the ending of National Service and the change to a voluntary army , and to " " keep the Army abreast of changing circumstances , policies , weapons and techniques of war " " . 51 major units and a large number of smaller ones were to be disbanded or amalgamated , leaving the army with a strength of 165 , 000 officers and men . The process was to carried out in two phases , to be completed by the end of 1959 and 1962 respectively . The Royal Armoured Corps was to be reduced by the amalgamation of : The Royal Artillery was to lose 18 major and numerous small units . The Royal Horse Artillery was to be cut to three regiments . The infantry of the line was to undergo major changes . Existing regiments were to be grouped in " brigades " . Each brigade was to have a single depot with those of the individual regiments being reduced to the status of regimental headquarters . There was to be a reduction in the number of regular battalions from 64 to 49 by the merging of pairs of regiments . The brigades and regiments were to be : The Royal Engineers would be reduced by approximately 15 , 000 officers and men , with divisional engineer regiments to be replaced by field squadrons . The Royal Signals was to lose 13 , 000 soldiers by reduction of second - line units . Some of the work of the Royal Army Service Corps was to pass to civilian contractors , allowing a loss 18 , 000 men . The Royal Army Ordnance Corps was to lose 11 , 000 soldiers , and was to be organised more efficiently with a large number of depots closed . The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers was to lose 23 , 000 soldiers . Other arms and services were to be reduced in proportion . Ending of air branch RNVR . Since 1938 the Air Branch of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve had been contributing reservists for air operations . From 1947 it had been curtailed to anti - submarine warfare ( ASW ) and fighter units only - there being a large number of propeller aircraft still in use . The increasing complexity of weapons system and the use of helicopters for ASW was thought to be beyond what reservist training could manage . With the ending of the Air branch , the Short Seamew was no longer required and production cancelled