UK to decommission ships, drones and helicopters to save £500m

The UK volition velocity up the decommissioning of aged subject instrumentality to prevention up to £500m implicit 5 years, the authorities says.

Defence Secretary John Healey told the House of Commons that the determination would escaped up funds for further concern successful the equipped forces, including hitting the government's people of spending 2.5% of GDP connected defence.

Ships, drones and helicopters - immoderate much than 50 years aged - volition beryllium decommissioned.

The determination volition assistance with the implementation of the strategical defence review, owed to study adjacent year, the authorities said.

The instrumentality being scrapped is:

• Two amphibious battle ships, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark
• A Type 23 frigate, HMS Northumberland, which was successful re-fit but has present been ruled arsenic uneconomical owed to structural harm discovered during repairs
• Two tankers, RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler
• Watchkeeper WK450 Mk1 drones
• Fourteen CH-47 Chinook helicopters, the oldest Chinooks presently being utilized by the UK
• Seventeen Puma helicopters, which were archetypal introduced implicit 50 years ago

Some of the ships are presently connected onshore and were not owed to instrumentality to oversea earlier their planned retirement, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) said, but were inactive costing millions of pounds per twelvemonth to maintain.

HMS Northumberland was successful re-fit but the MOD says structural harm discovered during repairs means repairing the vessel is present uneconomical.

The decommissioned ships volition beryllium replaced by a caller Type 26 frigate and multi-role enactment ships.

The Chinook and Puma helicopters being retired person been successful usage for decades. The Chinooks volition beryllium replaced by the newer H-47(ER) variant, which volition participate work successful 2027, the MOD said. The Pumas volition beryllium replaced by caller Airbus H-145 helicopters.

No replacement for the Watchkeeper drones has yet been announced. But drone exertion has progressed rapidly successful the 14 years since it was introduced, the MOD said, thing which has been peculiarly evident during the Ukraine war.

"They person provided a invaluable capableness implicit the years - but their enactment is done. We indispensable look present to the future," Healy told the Commons.

The MOD believes the changes volition assistance present the aims of the strategic defence review, a "root and branch" information of the existent authorities of the equipped forces, the threats the UK faces and the capabilities needed to code them.

"These are not the lone hard decisions we volition request to marque arsenic a caller authorities to woody with the fiscal inheritance," Healy said, adding that the changes would "secure amended worth for wealth for taxpayers and amended outcomes for our military".

The savings volition beryllium retained successful defence, Healy said, adding that each unit would beryllium redeployed oregon retrained.

Chief of the General Staff Gen Sir Roly Walker said: "I’ve flown galore missions successful CH47 and Puma, second time warhorses – and I volition miss them.

"But each warhorses indispensable spell retired to pasture astatine immoderate stage, oftentimes due to the fact that we’ve recovered a faster, better, and cheaper way."

Chief of the Defence Staff Adm Sir Tony Radakin said: "Accelerating the disposal of bequest instrumentality is the logical attack to absorption connected the modulation to caller capabilities that amended bespeak changing exertion and tactics.

"It besides complements our taking immoderate pugnacious decisions to easiness immoderate of the existent fiscal pressures."