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Royal Navy flagships, tankers and helicopters will be decommissioned in cost-saving measures announced by defence secretary John Healey.
Two former Royal Navy flagships, 14 Chinook helicopters, 17 Puma helicopters and two wave-class tankers are among the equipment that will be decommissioned.
The savings, which Mr Healey blamed on the “dire inheritance” left by the Tories, will see assault ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, which have both been flagships, decommissioned.
Ageing Type 23 frigate HMS Northumberland is beyond economic repair and will be decommissioned along with two Wave class tankers.
The Army’s Watchkeeper drones, which cost around £5 million each and have been in service for a decade but have been beset by problems and are effectively obsolete, will be grounded.
Helicopters will also be affected by the cuts, with the 14 oldest Chinook transport aircraft removed early from service and Puma’s lifespan not being extended beyond March 2025.
The move has been met with backlash from opposition parties, with former intelligence and security committee chairman Sir Julian Lewis describing the scrapping of amphibious ships as “a black day for the Royal Marines”.
Pictured: HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark
Tories say Labour will have to ‘own the consequences’ of cuts to Royal Navy
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge blamed Rachel Reeves for the plans, announced by Defence Secretary John Healey.
He said: “Whatever the Chancellor’s true grasp of economics, she’s certainly been able to force her priorities onto the country, getting the MoD to scrap major capabilities before they’ve undertaken the department’s much vaunted strategic defence review.
“They’ve killed off North Sea oil, undermining our energy security; this week they are killing off the family farm and threatening our food security. Today they’re scrapping key defence capabilities and weakening our national security.
“Labour have made their choices; they own the consequences.”
Mr Cartlidge said he had been assured former flagships HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion could have been made battleworthy in the event of a war.
He said: “I personally sought and received assurances from the Navy’s leadership… that in the event of a full-scale war fighting scenario where the priority for the navy was literal capability, those ships could have still been regenerated to a condition able to fight, and the crews found.”
He added: “Permanently scrapping the landing ships means we remove that capability entirely. So, what impact will this have on the operational effectiveness of the Royal Marines?
“MRSS (multi-role support ship) is intended to fill the gap but will be at least eight to nine years away. Is he still committed to MRSS?”
No redundancies would be made as a result of ‘common sense decisions’, says Healey
Defence Secretary John Healey said no redundancies would be made as a result of the “common sense decisions”.
He said: “They have provided a valuable capability over the years, but their work is done. We must look now to the future. And all current personnel will be redeployed or re-trained. No one will be made redundant.”
He added: “Be in no doubt the future for our Royal Marines and their elite force will be reinforced in the SDR (strategic defence review).
“These are common sense decisions which previous governments failed to take, decisions that will secure better value for money for the taxpayer and better outcomes for the military.
“Decisions which are all backed by the chiefs and taken in consultation with SDR reviewers. Allies have been informed, and we have constant dialogue with Nato.
“These will not be the last difficult decisions I will have to make to fix the defence inheritance that we were left with, but they will help get a grip of finances now, and they will give greater scope to renew our forces for the future as we look towards the strategic defence review and to 2.5% (of GDP spent on defence).”
Healey announces former Royal Navy flagships will be decommissioned
Defence Secretary John Healey has announced former Royal Navy flagships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark will be decommissioned as part of a series of money-saving cuts.
At the House of Commons despatch box, Mr Healey told MPs: “I’ve introduced tight financial controls on the department, including a £300 million reduction in planned consultancy spending. We’re getting a grip of MoD (Ministry of Defence) budgets and investing in people and in future technologies.”
He added: “For too long our soldiers, sailors, aviators have been stuck with old, outdated equipment because ministers wouldn’t make the difficult decommissioning decisions.
“As technology advances at pace, we must move faster towards the future. So today, with full backing from our service chiefs, I can confirm that six outdated military capabilities will be taken out of services.
“These decisions are set to save the MoD £150 million over the next two years and up to £500 million over five years, savings that will be retained in full in defence.”
Mr Healey said he would retire HMS Northumberland “a frigate with structural damage that makes her simply uneconomical to repair”, 46 Watchkeeper Mark I uncrewed aircraft systems, and a 14-year-old army drone “which technology has overtaken”.
The Defence Secretary also announced the decommissioning of HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark which he described “landing ships both effectively retired by previous ministers but superficially kept on the books at a cost of £9 million a year”.
