The UK will scrap five warships, dozens of military helicopters and a fleet of drones to save money despite growing threats from Russia and a war raging in Europe.

John Healey, the defence secretary, announced the dramatic move in parliament on Wednesday, saying it would save up to half a billion pounds over the next five years.

The defence secretary described the equipment being axed as “outdated” and said the “common sense” decision to retire them was long overdue.

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He signalled the decision was part of a plan to restructure and modernise the armed forces, which have already been significantly reduced in size following decades of cost-saving cuts, with new capabilities due to come online to replace the gaps.

“We face increasing global threats,” Mr Healey said in a written statement that was released at the same time as he addressed MPs.

“War in Europe, growing Russian aggression, conflict in the Middle East and technology changing the nature of warfare. As a result, defence needs increased resilience and readiness for the future.”

At the same time, though, he said the defence budget faced “serious financial pressures”.

He repeated a pledge that the government would set out a course to lift the defence budget to 2.5% of national income – but yet again without giving a date.

The defence secretary then spelt out what “difficult decisions” meant in reality.

“To ensure that Britain is kept secure at home and strong abroad in a changing world, defence needs to make changes too. Difficult decisions are required,” he said.

The weapons systems on the chopping block are:

• The Royal Navy’s two amphibious assault ships, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark. They will be taken out of service at the end of the year – around a decade early in a blow to the ability of the Royal Marines to launch land assaults from the sea.
• A fleet of 17 Royal Air Force Puma helicopters, as well as 14 of the military’s oldest Chinook helicopters
• A fleet of 46 Watchkeeper drones – each worth about £5m – barely six years since they entered into service
• HMS Northumberland, a Type 23 frigate, which is in need of costly repairs and has already operated well beyond an 18-year out-of-service date
• Two large Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler – vessels which carry fuel and supplies to enable the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers to operate around the world.

Mr Healey also hinted that further cuts would follow.

“These will not be the last difficult decisions I will have to make, to fix the defence inheritance that we were left with,” he told MPs.

The announcement, while uncomfortable, is designed to be the least damaging way to reduce costs while retaining capability.

It comes ahead of a plan by the government to publish a sweeping new review of defence in the spring, which is being drawn up by an external team and is expected to recommend extensive changes across the army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.

The Ministry of Defence says that the equipment that is being axed – the term used is “accelerated retirement” – was selected because it is outdated and military chiefs need to focus finite money and personnel instead on the weapons systems most suited to modern warfare.

However, Russia’s war in Ukraine has demonstrated that old, outdated weapons are better than no weapons at all.

‘Wars of national survival’

Sean Bell

Military analyst

@BellusUK

Sky News’ military analyst offered his opinion on the announcement from the defence secretary.

Speaking on Sky News Today with Kamali Melbourne, he said: “There’s two things that jump out.

“There’s a reconfiguration going on in defence, it’s become a more dangerous world.

“For like 30 years defence has been about wars of choice, expeditionary wars, going out.

“So we’ve needed transport, we’ve needed landing ships to take people away.

“While the purists would say you need to wait for the Defence Review to conclude, it’s common sense that the direction of travel is less about wars of choice and more about wars of national survival, then you need to make every pound you spend focus on that.

“Therefore, if you’ve got some ships and equipment that’s just moribund and waiting, it costs you to keep that in dry dock and keep it maintained.

“[There’s] one thing that’s not being talked about… if you look at it from a grand strategic perspective, 6% of the defence budget is largely spent on the deterrent, the nuclear capability. We’re in the middle of a period where we’re changing and upgrading the capability and in broad handfuls, we’re spending another 6% to replace it.

“In addition, £3bn is coming out to go to Ukraine… so rather than 6% of the defence budget, it’s something like 18% that’s not available for conventional military capability in other words a significant cut.

“Somehow you’ve got to square the books.”

The Russian armed forces have relied heavily on old tanks, artillery guns and helicopters to fight after the weapons they used in the first weeks and months of the war were destroyed.

It takes years to build warships and helicopters.

Sir Keir Starmer will face uncomfortable challenges at the sight of amphibious assault vessels and Chinook transport helicopters being sold off or scrapped regardless of how old they are.

Yet it costs money to keep equipment in storage just in case it is needed.

Limited funds allocated to defence mean that military chiefs appear to have decided that scrapping weapons early is the least worst option.

The decision to scrap the British Army’s Mark 1 version of the Watchkeeper drone at a time when drones are such a dominant asset on the battlefield may also be tricky to defend.

However, the programme has been beset by delays, cost overruns and flaws.

The first Watchkeeper drones only started operating around 2018 – some eight years late.

They also struggle to operate in poor weather conditions – limiting their utility.

The rapid pace of evolving technology in drone warfare – where the development cycle is a mere six to eight weeks – means that the technology inside Watchkeeper, which was conceived of more than 14 years ago, may well be easily defeated in a fight.

It is understood that scrapping the aircraft means that the army will be able to focus money on developing new innovative drone capabilities.

Ukraine has fired British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia, a source has told Sky News.

The UK and Ukraine have not yet confirmed the use of the long-range weapons in Russia but their deployment has been widely reported in British media.

Footage has been posted on Telegram reportedly showing wreckage from one of the missiles in Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.

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The UK had previously said that British tanks, anti-tank missiles and other military equipment could be used inside Russia as part of Ukraine’s defence – but had kept restrictions on the use of long-range missiles.

It comes just days after US President Joe Biden authorised the same policy shift.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that Ukraine had fired six US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) in the Bryansk region.

A Russian state news agency cited the ministry as saying the missiles caused no casualties.

Missiles will have a ‘marginal effect’

Sky News’ security and defence editor Deborah Haynes says Ukraine’s allies have been pursuing a strategy of ambiguity and “it remains to be seen whether we get official confirmation on this from the UK or from Ukraine”.

“There is also the uncomfortable reality that Ukraine’s stockpile of Storm Shadow missiles is severely limited, so their use will only have a marginal effect.”

Embassies shut over air attack fears

Meanwhile, Sky’s military analyst Sean Bell says he would be amazed if this attack really marks the first time such a missile has been used by Ukraine to hit inside Russia.

“I would be quite surprised if they haven’t been used for selected targets further on [into Russia] because they are… very, very effective at striking Russian logistics hubs, headquarters, ammunition dumps,” he said.

Earlier, the US and some other Western embassies in Kyiv closed amid fears Russia was preparing a major air attack on the Ukrainian capital.

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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been asking Kyiv’s allies to give his troops the capability to strike deeper behind Russian lines for over a year.

Mr Biden’s change of policy is linked to changing tactics by the Russians, which began deploying North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces.

The White House is set to announce more military aid for Ukraine worth up to $275m (£217m), the US defence secretary has said.

Lloyd Austin said the support would “meet critical battlefield needs” and would include munitions for rocket systems, artillery and tank weapons, along with anti-personnel landmines.

Russian politician Maria Butina and the son of Donald Trump, the US president-elect, both warned the move could spark the start of a third world war.

Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold required for the use of nuclear weapons after America’s decision on long-range missiles for Ukraine, adding to fears the conflict could escalate.