Defence Secretary scraps some military programmes in efforts to save money

The Defence Secretary has announced cuts to a number of military programmes in an effort to “modernise” the army.
John Healey told the Commons on Wednesday he made the “difficult decision” to scrap six military projects, including a number of warships, drones and helicopters.
Justifying the cuts, Healey said the plans are part of an effort to “make our Armed Forces fit for the future”, and to get “better value for money.”
The projects scrapped are: HMS Northumberland, HMS and Albion and HMS Bulwark, RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler, a fleet of drones, some old Chinook helicopters, and Puma helicopters.
The government say the changes are set to save MOD up to £150 million in the next two years, and up to £500 million over five years.
Healey said the country faces “increasing global threats… war in Europe, growing Russian aggression, conflict in the Middle East and technology changing the nature of warfare.”
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge accused Healey of “scrapping key defence capabilities and weakening our national security.”
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Cartlidge blamed Chancellor Rachel Reeves for the plans announced by Healey on Wednesday.
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.”
Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin accused Healey of “pretend[ing] he’s just clearing out an old cupboard of rubbish that everybody had forgotten about”.
“We are throwing away capabilities which are only out of commission because there wasn’t enough money – and now he’s telling us there’s probably even less money,” he said.
Healey said he was dealing with a “dire inheritance, the state of the finances and the state of the forces often hidden to Parliament, billion pound black holes in defence plans, taxpayers’ funds being wasted, military morale down to record lows”.
The government has committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, but has refused to say when they will reach that target.
They’re currently carrying out a ‘strategic defence review’, which will “set out the path” to 2.5%. Healey told the Commons on Wednesday, “it doesn’t matter how much you spend on defence, it’s how you spend.”
But as tensions increase between Russia and the West, there are concerns around the UK’s capacity to defend itself.
On Tuesday the PM criticised Putin for his “irresponsible rhetoric”, after Russia confirmed US-supplied long range missiles were fired into the country from Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden gave the go-ahead for the weapons to be used on Sunday night.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed the strike could be grounds for a nuclear response from Russia, after Putin updated the country’s nuclear doctrine.
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