Britain has been left “dangerously exposed” by Tory cuts to our military air combat fleet, MPs have warned.
A new report by the Commons Defence Committee warned the fleet was “alarmingly” low in number, and would struggle to defend the UK in an “all-out war”. Cuts set out in the 2021 Defence Command Paper will create a combat air capability gap that will persist into the 2030s, as Tory committee chair Tobias Ellwood warned of “turbulent times ahead” if ministers don’t change course.
The intervention comes just days after Rishi Sunak prompted concern in military circles by promoting ally Grant Shapps, who has little defence experience, to Defence Secretary. The panel criticised the retirement of the C-130J Hercules transport aircraft fleet seven years before its planned out-of-service date.
It said the move severely reduces the capacity of the RAF's air mobility fleet to support defence operations and humanitarian missions, and could hamper the special forces in particular.
The decision to reduce the UK's fleet of Wedgetail E-7 early warning aircraft from five to three "stands out as the most perverse" of all the Defence Command Paper's cuts, the report said - reducing the fleet by 40% to save just 12% in cost. It also called delays in flying training programmes in recent years "completely unacceptable", saying years-long waits for pilots to qualify damage morale and the effectiveness of the armed forces.
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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will spend more than £55 million sending pilots overseas for fast-jet training because of a lack of aircraft availability, MPs noted. They also said the increasing reliance on using simulators for flying training is "sub-optimal" for pilots and ground crew and "no substitute" for live flying.
Mr Ellwood said: "Air power capability can make or break a military. The ability to control the skies is critical in modern warfare and aircraft provide unparalleled reach, height and speed for our armed forces. Since the end of the Cold War, the RAF's fleet has taken a nosedive in numbers, down to just a third of its previous size. Our report, published today, found that budget cuts - including those in the last Defence Command Paper - have led to gaps in air capability that will persist into the next decade."
He added: "Our inquiry found that the RAF has prioritised quality at the expense of quantity, leaving us with a fleet of combat aircraft that are high-spec and expensive yet alarmingly low in number. Our current fleet fails to reach the mass necessary to survive the attrition of an all-out war with a peer adversary. Fixing this is a matter of urgency; allowing capability gaps to bed in will only widen them in the long term."
He added: "Russia's invasion of Ukraine signalled the beginning of a darker and more dangerous era for Europe. Despite this, the Ministry of Defence has failed to reverse any of its 2021 cuts to our aviation capabilities. If the Ministry of Defence refuses to see the writing on the wall and fails to make adequate investment, there are turbulent times ahead."
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