They see the armed forces as the guarantor of secularism and the last defence against the rise of fundamentalism.
EADS, admits there is some attraction in getting closer to France's Thomson defence-electronics group, the last unaligned defence company of any significance in Europe.
The last strategic defence review was completed in 1998, a year after Labour came to power.
Last year Defence Secretary Philip Hammond revealed plans to cut the size of the regular armed forces from 102, 000 to 82, 000, while increasing the number of reserves to 30, 000.
But last week, defence lawyer Bill Taylor QC put a spanner in the works.
Speaking in his own defence last week, Noriega dismissed the money-laundering charges as "an imaginary banking scheme".
Mr Felstead agreed, saying it could have "great capability" as a last line of defence in many situations.
This has managed to mutate to resist even the antibiotic described as the "last line of defence" against such staph infections.
But last month the defence minister, Gotabhaya Rajapakse (brother of the president, Mahinda Rajapakse), made it clear where the government's priorities lay.
The last bastion of defence in favour of our superiority was cognition.
And last year, defence firm Qinetiq flew a solar-powered plane for 54 hours, smashing the official world record for the longest-duration unmanned flight.
But it will be much more potent if the courts act as the last line of defence against the corrosiveness of arbitrary government.
And when banks have failed and markets have faltered, we the representatives of the people have to be the people's last line of defence.
His sureness of touch which dazzled the Wolves defence last season was again evident when he was played in by Davies, rounded Krul and tapped in.
Announcing the release of the injury figures last month, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said the MoD was committed to being "open about casualties suffered" by British forces.
Last year the defence ministry adopted a new policy that measures the army's success by the number of guerrilla captures or desertions, rather than the body count.
Minutes later, Collins' shot cleared the static Sorenson but full-back Kelly was on hand as the last line of defence to head the ball away to safety.
Infection by MRSA bacteria is increasingly common in hospitals, and there have been cases of bugs which show resistance even to vancomycin, an antibiotic traditionally regarded as "the last line of defence".
"It functions as the last line of defence, so if you can fit a laser onto it, you have a longer reach and an unlimited magazine, cause it keeps on throwing out photons, " he added.
Last month US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said he expected the transition process to be complete by mid to late 2013 - ahead of the timetable outlined by the UK Ministry of Defence last year.
BBC: Cameron and Obama to agree Afghan combat role timetable
While the role of the Home Guard during World War II has been widely celebrated, very little is known of their counterparts in the Auxiliary Units, who would have been Britain's last line of defence in the event of a Nazi invasion.
Byrne, who has 27 caps, has made precious few over the past two seasons, whether joining the attack with his superb angles of running, pinning the opposition back with his booming kicks or pulling off cover tackles as the last line of defence.
"As the last line of defence in the cabin and key aviation partners, we believe that these proposed changes will further endanger the lives of all flight attendants and the passengers we work so hard to keep safe and secure, " the group said in a statement.
Some employers' representatives welcomed the rulings because they at last spelled out a defence against harassment suits, namely a strict and strictly enforced anti-harassment policy.
He is the last witness for the defence and is expected to continue testifying on Friday, including giving an alternate theory about how Jackson died.
Legal analysts had said last week's defence motion might lead to dismissal of the case or, if the defendants were found guilty, to an eventual appeal.
Now firmly in control and sensing a growing nervousness in Sunderland, Birmingham continued to push forward, but again found Gordon a resolute last line of home defence.
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