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The defence secretary described the equipment being axed as “outdated” and said the “common sense” decision to retire them was long overdue.
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.”
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At the same time, though, he said the defence budget faced “serious financial pressures”.
Image: Defence Secretary John Healey speaking in parliament on Wednesday
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.
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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.
Image: HMS Albion is due for the chopping block. File pic: Reuters
Image: HMS Bulwark. Pic: PA
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.
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.
Image: A Watchkeeper drone on display in France in 2012. File pic: AP
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.
And tens of billions of pounds of borrowing depends on the answer – which still feels intriguingly opaque.
You might think you know what the fiscal rules are. And you might think you know they’re not negotiable.
For instance, the main fiscal rule says that from 2029-30, the government’s day-to-day spending needs to be in surplus – i.e. rely on taxation alone, not borrowing.
And Rachel Reeves has been clear – that’s not going to change, and there’s no disputing this.
But when the government announced its fiscal rules in October, it actually published a 19-page document – a “charter” – alongside this.
And this contains all sorts of notes and caveats. And it’s slightly unclear which are subject to the “iron clad” promise – and which aren’t.
There’s one part of that document coming into focus – with sources telling me that it could get changed.
And it’s this – a little-known buffer built into the rules.
This says that from spring 2027, if the OBR forecasts that she still actually has a deficit of up to 0.5% of GDP in three years, she will still be judged to be within the rules.
In other words, if in spring 2027 she’s judged to have missed her fiscal rules by perhaps as much as £15bn, that’s fine.
Image: A change could save the chancellor some headaches. Pic: PA
Now there’s a caveat – this exemption only applies, providing at the following budget the chancellor reduces that deficit back to zero.
But still, it’s potentially helpful wiggle room.
This help – this buffer – for Reeves doesn’t apply today, or for the next couple of years – it only kicks in from the spring of 2027.
But I’m being told by a source that some of this might change and the ability to use this wiggle room could be brought forward to this year. Could she give herself a get out of jail card?
The chancellor could gamble that few people would notice this technical change, and it might avoid politically catastrophic tax hikes – but only if the markets accept it will mean higher borrowing than planned.
But the question is – has Rachel Reeves ruled this out by saying her fiscal rules are iron clad or not?
Or to put it another way… is the whole of the 19-page Charter for Budget Responsibility “iron clad” and untouchable, or just the rules themselves?
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Is Labour plotting a ‘wealth tax’?
And what counts as “rules” and are therefore untouchable, and what could fall outside and could still be changed?
I’ve been pressing the Treasury for a statement.
And this morning, they issued one.
A spokesman said: “The fiscal rules as set out in the Charter for Budget Responsibility are iron clad, and non-negotiable, as are the definition of the rules set out in the document itself.”
So that sounds clear – but what is a definition of the rule? Does it include this 0.5% of GDP buffer zone?
The Treasury does concede that not everything in the charter is untouchable – including the role and remit of the OBR, and the requirements for it to publish a specific list of fiscal metrics.
But does that include that key bit? Which bits can Reeves still tinker with?
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