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BRIEFING PAPER

Number 9188, 30 March 2021

Defence Command Paper 2021: equipment cuts

By Louisa Brooke-Holland

Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Army: reduction in armoured

vehicles 3. Royal Navy: frigates and

autonomous mine hunters 4. Royal Air Force: combat

aircraft and helicopters cut 5. Consolidating the helicopter

fleet

2 Defence Command Paper 2021: equipment cuts

Contents Summary 3

1. Introduction 4

2. Army: reduction in armoured vehicles 6

3. Royal Navy: frigates and autonomous mine hunters 9

4. Royal Air Force: combat aircraft and helicopters cut 12

5. Consolidating the helicopter fleet 16

Cover page image copyright Warrior armoured vehicle by Ministry of Defence Imagery / image cropped. Licensed under OGL (Open Government License) .

3 Commons Library Briefing, 30 March 2021

Summary In March 2021 the Government published three documents that set out, in turn, its vision for the UK’s role in the world over the next decade, Defence’s contribution to this vision, and a new strategic approach to the UK’s defence and security industrial sectors.1

The second of these documents – the Defence Command Paper: Defence in a Competitive Age – set out plans to spend £188 billion on defence over the next four years. Included in this spending are affirmations of existing equipment programmes and investment in new and emerging technologies for the UK armed forces.

However, the Command Paper, like defence reviews before it, also identifies current equipment and capabilities that are to be withdrawn from service earlier than expected. These include:

• Some Challenger main battle tanks

• Warrior infantry fighting vehicles

• Two frigates

• Mine counter-measure vessels

• Tranche 1 Typhoon combat aircraft

• Hercules transport aircraft

• E-3D Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft

• Some Chinook helicopters

• Puma helicopters

The Command Paper reverses some of the decisions of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review to extend the life of some capabilities listed above.

This paper discusses the capabilities that are to be cut and what this means. It complements Library paper Integrated Review 2021: emerging defence technologies, which explores plans for new investment in cyber, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, space and directed energy weapons.

This paper is part of a series of Commons Library papers on the Integrated Review, the Defence Command Paper and the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy, which can be found on the House of Commons Library website under: Integrated Review 2021. These include:

• Integrated Review 2021: Summary, House of Commons Library, 17 March 2021

• Defence Command Paper 2021: Summary, House of Commons Library, 23 March 2021

1 As summarised by Gov.uk

4 Defence Command Paper 2021: equipment cuts

1. Introduction “Some industrial age capabilities will increasingly have to meet

their sunset to create the space for capabilities needed for sunrise.”

Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, September 2020

Since the end of World War Two governments have, at irregular intervals, published forward-looking assessments of the UK’s strategic interests and requisite military requirements. These examine the defence and security landscape, identify current and emerging threats and how to organise and equip the armed forces to meet these threats.

In March 2021 the Government published a fresh assessment of the UK’s national security and international policy in two documents, alongside a new industrial strategy.

• Integrated Review: Global Britain in a Competitive Age, CP403, 16 March 2021

• Defence Command Paper: Defence in a Competitive Age, CP411, 22 March 2021

• Defence and Security Industrial Strategy, CP410, 23 March 2021

The Defence Command Paper sets out a future vision for the armed forces and how defence will contribute to the overarching objectives set out in the Integrated Review. It draws on the core principles of the new Integrated Operating Concept, released by the Ministry of Defence in September 2020. As the Chief of the Defence Staff made clear at the time, investment in emerging technologies means existing equipment will be cut.

This was not entirely unexpected. Previous defence reviews have, on occasion, made significant cuts to capabilities. The 2010 review, for example, decommissioned HMS Ark Royal and retired the Harrier aircraft, bringing a (temporary) end to the UK’s carrier strike capability, and cancelled the troubled Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft programme.2

The Command Paper thus announced the early retirement of navy vessels and several types of aircraft and cancelled the sustainment programme for one of the army’s armoured infantry vehicles. Some capabilities will be replaced by newer iterations, though not immediately. As the Economist observes “many of the cuts create gaps that will not be filled for years.”3

This paper recognises that focusing purely on the number of pieces of equipment the armed forces has does not tell the whole story. Retiring a particular capability earlier than expected is not inherently a negative. Nonetheless, it remains helpful to discuss what is being cut and why,

2 House of Commons Library, A brief guide to previous British defence reviews,

CBP7313, February 2020 3 “Defence cuts make Britain’s armed forces leaner but not meaner”, The Economist,

27 March 2021

“We will retire platforms to make way for new systems and approaches.” Ben Wallace, Defence Secretary

5 Commons Library Briefing, 30 March 2021

especially if the reason is less to do with obsolescence and more because of cost.

The financial envelope No government starts a defence review with a wholly clean slate. They are restricted by existing commitments and current force structures. New defence equipment can take years, even decades, to come to fruition, meaning governments are tied by the decisions made taken by their predecessors facing, potentially, a very different strategic environment.

The National Audit Office has, for four successive years, declared the defence equipment budget to not be affordable, not fully costed and over-optimistic. The NAO says the MOD’s fundamental problem is “its ambition has far exceeded available resources.”4

The Government has, since 2012, published an annual defence equipment plan, which is then assessed by the National Audit Office. In its most recent plan, for the ten years between 2020 and 2030, the MOD estimated the shortfall between the forecast costs and available funding to be between £5.4 billion and £13.2 billion.5 However, this assessment does not reflect the additional £24.1 billion to be spent over the next four years announced by the Prime Minister in November 2020.6 The full costings for the new equipment plan will not be available until later this year.

Select Committees have drawn similar conclusions in their analysis of selected programmes; the Defence Committee recently described as “deplorable” the army’s history of procuring armoured vehicles.7

No explicit force structure One notable difference between the Command Paper and previous recent defence reviews is the lack of an explicit force structure.

The paper does describe an Integrated Force 2030, which replaces the Joint Force 2025 and Future Force 2020 laid out in the Strategic Defence and Security Reviews of 2015 and 2010 respectively. However, unlike in those two reviews, Integrated Force 2030 does not come with a clear force structure - there are no numbers attached to specific capabilities or units. As analysts at the Institute for International Strategic Studies point out, “some of the proposals for transformational changes lack real detail, making judgements on the trade-offs involved difficult.”8

4 The Equipment Plan 2020-2030, National Audit Office, HC 1037 2019-21, 12

January 2021 5 Letter to Public Accounts Committee Equipment Plan 2020 to 2030: Update on

affordability, Ministry of Defence, 12 January 2021 6 HC Deb 19 November 2020 c487. This money will be spent over the next four years

against the 2020/21 budget. 7 “Obsolescent and outgunned: the British Army's armoured vehicle capability”,

Defence Committee, 14 March 2021, HC 659 2019-21; “Delivering Carrier Strike”, Public Accounts Committee, 13 November 2020, HC 684 2019-21

8 “The UK’s new model forces”, IISS, 24 March 2021. Also the source for the quote in the box.

“There is a risk that the armed forces are again being asked to do more with the same, or, in some cases, less” Institute for International Strategic Studies, March 2021

6 Defence Command Paper 2021: equipment cuts

2. Army: reduction in armoured vehicles

Speaking in the Commons, the Defence Secretary told MPs “our land forces have been for too long deprived of investment.” £23 billion will be spent over the next four years modernising the army’s equipment, including upgrading some (but not all) Challenger tanks and introducing the new Ajax and Boxer armoured vehicles. The Warrior vehicle – whose upgrade programme was much criticised by the Defence Committee in a recent report – will no longer be retained once Boxer is in service.

Fewer tanks and an end to Warrior The Army’s history of procuring armoured vehicles has been described as “deplorable” by the Defence Committee. In a report published on the eve of the review, the committee criticises the management of successive procurement decisions for the army’s troubled vehicle programmes.9

As of 1 January 2021, the army’s armoured fighting vehicles fleet numbered:

• 227 Challenger 2 main battle tanks

• 181 CVR(T) Scimitar

• 767 Warrior vehicles10

The 2010 SDSR had cut the number of Challenger 2 tanks by 40 per cent and reduced heavy artillery (AS90 armoured artillery vehicles) by 35 per cent. The 2015 SDSR pledged to extend the life of Challenger 2 and upgrade the Warrior fleet.

However, the Defence Command Paper says modernising the army will mean some legacy platforms that have already been extended beyond the end of their planned life will be retired.

This means only 148 of the 227 Challenger 2 tanks will be upgraded, with the rest retired. Challenger 2 has not had any significant capability upgrades since it was introduced in the late 1990s. The MOD has been formally discussing the Challenger 2 Life Extension Programme for nearly a decade but changes to the required capabilities, and other issues, have delayed the programme significantly.11

The long-planned Warrior upgrade programme has been scrapped. Warrior will be replaced by the new Boxer armoured vehicle, currently on order and expected to enter service around the middle of the

9 “Obsolescent and outgunned: the British Army's armoured vehicle capability”,

Defence Committee, 14 March 2021, HC 659 2019-21 10 UK armed forces and equipment formations 2020, 10 September 2020, table 5 11 An explanation of the changes and delays can be found in “Obsolescent and

outgunned: the British Army's armoured vehicle capability”, Defence Committee, 14 March 2021, HC 659 2019-21. In 2012, when the life extension programme was in concept phase, the MOD expected the main investment decision to occur in 2017 (HC Deb 23 October 2012 c807W). By 2018 the main investment decision was expected in mid-2019 (PQ130247, 6 March 2018). In 2019 it became 2020 (PQ246432, 29 April 2019). The assessment phase had concluded by the end of 2020 (HC Deb 7 December 2020 c557).

7 Commons Library Briefing, 30 March 2021

decade. The MOD says ending the Warrior upgrade programme will allow more money to accelerate the in-service date of Boxer and enhance its capability. Responding to a written question, the MOD said it is looking to bring forward full operating capability from 2032 to 2030.12

The Defence Command Paper says in the future the army will be “leaner, more lethal, nimbler and more effectively matched to current and future threats.” It does not describe in detail the new force structure, however. It does sketch out plans to reorganise the infantry into four divisions with a new Ranger Regiment, plus plans for self-sufficient Brigade Combat Teams, including a Deep Recce Strike team using Ajax. Initial analysis by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) suggests the Strike Brigade concept has been dropped in favour of these Brigade Combat Teams.13

Full details are of the army’s restructure “will be announced before the summer.”14

What does this mean? A shift away from the planned warfighting division laid out in the 2015 SDSR. Then, the plan was for a division to be drawn from two armoured infantry brigades, consisting of Challenger 2 tanks and Warrior, and two new Strike brigades, based around new Ajax armoured vehicles and new mechanised infantry vehicles (Boxer), plus artillery, engineer and logistic support elements, to deliver a deployed division of three brigades.

However, during the course of a Defence Committee inquiry into the army’s armoured vehicles in 2020, it emerged the Army will be unable to field its warfighting division as planned, reducing it by one armoured infantry brigade. Witnesses told the committee that such a reduced division could be defeated by its Russian armoured counterpart. The committee said the current armoured vehicle fleet is characterised by “increasing obsolescence and decreasing numbers”.15

The Committee suggested the army now finds itself in a “vulnerable position” both because its armoured vehicle capacity has fallen behind allies and potential adversaries, and because programmes to introduce new vehicles or upgrade existing ones have encountered serious difficulties, resulting in delays, increased costs and cancellations.16 The committee suggested the army and MOD had failed to learn from past experience, describing Ajax’s procurement as “another example of chronic mismanagement.”17 Jack Watling of RUSI says that while the army is investing in modernising its heavy armour, the alterations will

12 PQ172907, 25 March 2021 13 “The UK’s new model forces”, IISS, 24 March 2021 14 HC Deb 22 March 2021 c639 15 “Obsolescent and outgunned: the British Army’s armoured vehicle capability”,

Defence Committee, 14 March 2021, HC 659 2019-21 16 “Obsolescent and outgunned: the British Army's armoured vehicle capability”,

Defence Committee, 14 March 2021, HC 659 2019-21 17 “Obsolescent and outgunned: the British Army's armoured vehicle capability”,

Defence Committee, 14 March 2021, HC 659 2019-21

8 Defence Command Paper 2021: equipment cuts

not deliver a competitive modern main battle tank. Nor will there be enough of them to offer a serious warfighting capability:

The British army is aiming to be in a position to have an effective warfighting force in the 2030s. But that comes at the expense of its warfighting capability today.18

The Economist worries the withdrawal of Warrior without a comparably armed replacement or suitably long-range artillery “leaves infantry dangerously vulnerable as they close with the enemy.”19

The army is also going to be reduced to 72,500 personnel. Whilst the army currently numbers 76,000 soldiers, it is actually a reduction of nearly 10,000 personnel from the 82,000 set out in the 2015 SDSR. The Library discusses this in UK army to be reduced to 72,500 (23 March 2021).

18 Jack Watling, “Rangers lead the way… but who follows?”, RUSI Defence Systems,

22 March 2021 19 “Defence cuts make Britain’s armed forces leaner but not meaner”, The Economist,

27 March 2021

9 Commons Library Briefing, 30 March 2021

3. Royal Navy: frigates and autonomous mine hunters

The Royal Navy is “transforming at pace” with new surface ships being built or introduced into service, led by the first deployment of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group in May 2021.

However, this means there will be a dip in the number of frigates with the early retirement of two of the oldest Type 23 frigates. No dates have been given, but the new frigates on order won’t begin to enter service until 2027.

Two new class of frigates are already on order to replace the outgoing Type 23’s from 2027 onwards.20

The Command Paper recommits to eight Type 26 and five Type 31 frigates, but also adds a new Type 32 frigate. The Type 31 and 32 frigates will be “more flexible” than predecessors and equipped with advanced sensors and weapons. And whilst the paper says they “protect territorial waters, provide persistent presence overseas and support our Littoral Response Groups” it also says they will embrace modularisation to allow them to quickly adopt emerging technology and switch roles. The Type 32 were first mentioned by the Prime Minister in autumn 2020.

The Royal Navy’s fleet of 13 Mine Counter Measure Vessels (six Hunt Class and seven Sandown Class) are to be retired and replaced by a new autonomous system (see below). The paper does not indicate a date for when they leave, only that they will leave when the new system comes into service. Previously in May 2020 the MOD said the Hunt class will leave service between 2029 and 2031.21

The Command paper also mentions a new Type 83 destroyer, to replace the Type 45 in the late 2030s. It gives no further details of this new ship.

What does this mean? The Defence Secretary has acknowledged there will be a “dip” in frigate numbers with the early retirement of two of the 13 strong fleet of Type 23’s. However, he said the surface fleet will grow from the current 19 frigates/destroyer force to over 20 by the start of the next decade.22

The Command Paper does not identify which of the two frigates will be retired early, save to describe them as two “of our oldest.” Pre-paper plans had the 13 strong fleet leaving service on an annual basis from 2023 onwards through to 2035, starting with HMS Argyll.23

20 The 2010 SDSR envisaged a single class of Type 26 frigates to enter service “as soon

as possible after 2020”. The 2015 SDSR divided the new frigate programme into two, with eight Type 26 frigates designed for anti-submarine warfare and a lighter, general purpose frigate, now called the Type 31.

21 PQ41915, 1 May 2020 22 HC Deb 22 March 2021 c637 23 PQ28004, 23 February 2016

10 Defence Command Paper 2021: equipment cuts

Media reports have identified HMS Montrose, currently in the Gulf, and HMS Monmouth as the two ships that are to be retired early.24 The latter has been “effectively retired since 2019” according to Navy Lookout, which says the ship has been stripped of most of its equipment and used to train crews.25 Speaking in the Lords, Baroness Goldie hinted it could be Monmouth, saying “we will probably mothball some of the Type 23s which have not been operational.”26 The Government has not given the revised retirement dates for the Type 23 fleet.

The “dip” comes at a time when the Navy faces additional responsibilities, starting with the new aircraft carrier. Two frigates will support the carrier strike group’s maiden voyage in May 2021, though the Navy expects NATO allies and other international partners to contribute ships to this and future carrier group deployments.27

Ships will still be required to fulfil other operational tasks - around UK waters, in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Gulf.

However, the Navy is looking to mitigate such pressure by permanently stationing vessels abroad (the command paper discusses at length plans for the armed forces as a whole to have a “persistent presence” globally). This both removes long sailing times and provides more predictability for personnel and by extension their families. Dual-crewing has already been used for years for mine counter-measure vessels and more recently HMS Montrose in the Gulf.

The Defence Secretary says he expects the new Offshore Patrol Vessels to “lesson the load” on some of the frigates. OPVs have already been fulfilling tasks previously carried out by frigates in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. The Command Paper says they OPVs will be permanently stationed in the Falklands (as at present), the Caribbean, Gibraltar (to service both the Mediterranean and Gulf of Guinea), and East of Suez in the Indo-Pacific region.

OPVs do not carry the same weaponry as frigates, however. Richard Scott, writing in Jane’s Navy International, observes that while the Royal Navy’s aspiration is to grow the frigate/destroyer fleet force, it is an “in inescapable fact” that the existing surface fleet “will be under increasing strain” until the new Type 26 and 31 frigates enter service.28

The retirement of mine hunters is not a surprise, given the Navy has for several years been exploring alternative ways to search for and make safe mines utilising autonomous vehicles, with a view to replacing the Hunt and Sandown class ships. In autumn 2020 the UK and France

24 “UK Defence Command Paper: New headmark set for Royal Navy”, Jane’s Navy

International, 22 March 2021 25 “When will the Royal Navy have 24 frigates and destroyers?”, Navy Lookout, 17

March 2021 26 HL Deb 22 March 2021 c808 27 Cooperative task-force deployments are becoming increasingly common. The

Netherlands and the US are each contributing an escort to the carrier group’s first deployment. Royal Navy ships have supported France’s Charles de Gaulle carrier in the past.

28 “UK Defence Command Paper: New headmark set for Royal Navy”, Jane’s Navy International, 22 March 2021

11 Commons Library Briefing, 30 March 2021

committed to a joint maritime mine counter measure programme, with the UK committing £184 million (totalling £254 million when combined with the £70 million spent on the demonstration phase).29 The programme envisages an autonomous vessel, controlled and operated from a “mother ship or base”, towed sonar to locate ordnance, and a remotely operated underwater vehicle to neutralise the device once found. The first equipment sets are due to be delivered in late 2022.

29 PQ126784, 14 December 2020

12 Defence Command Paper 2021: equipment cuts

4. Royal Air Force: combat aircraft and helicopters cut

The Command Paper reaffirms investment in the new future combat air system, known as Tempest. However, existing Typhoon tranche 1 combat aircraft will be retired by 2025. The paper is also ambiguous on future numbers of the new Lightning combat aircraft. The Government says it will buy more Lightning aircraft beyond the 48 already committed to but does not recommit to the figure given in the 2015 SDSR of 138 aircraft over the life of the programme.

The fleet of 14 C130J Hercules tactical transport aircraft is also to be retired in 2023, 12 years earlier than planned. The five E-3D Sentry aircraft, recognisable by the large radar dome on top of its fuselage, will also be retired in 2021. It will be replaced in 2023 by three new E-7A Wedgetail aircraft. Hawk T1 aircraft are also to be retired.

What does this mean? The RAF currently flies two combat aircraft: Typhoon and the F-35 Lightning.

There are three tranches of Typhoon currently in service and it is the oldest, tranche 1 aircraft, which are to be retired. The RAF currently has 139 Typhoons, of which 101 are in service, as of 1 April 2020,30 including 40 tranche 3 aircraft.31

Typhoon’s primary role is UK air defence and it forms the Quick Reaction Alert Force based at RAF Conningsby and RAF Lossiemouth, ready to scramble at very short notice to identify and intercept any unauthorised aircraft approaching UK airspace. Four Typhoon aircraft are based in the Falkland Islands.

The 2015 SDSR extended Typhoon’s retirement date from 2030 to 2040 and also announced plans to create two additional squadrons to sit alongside the five existing squadrons. The 2021 Command Paper commits to establishing all seven operational Typhoon squadrons, including a joint squadron with Qatar. It also commits to “spiral develop”32 Typhoon’s capability, integrating new weapons, including SPEAR CAP 3 (an air to ground missile), and the Radar 2 programme to equip it with an active electronically scanned array radar. Ministers have previously said the 40 tranche 3 aircraft will be fitted with the radar from the middle of decade.33

30 UK armed forces and equipment formations 2020, 10 September 2020 31 PQ85958, 7 September 2020 32 The paper does not explain what it means by “spiral develop”. However, Leonardo’s

managing director explains: “spiral development means we can use the building blocks of technology developed for Typhoon to inform our Tempest capabilities and we’ll be able to feedback technologies we’re developing for Tempest into Typhoon, to update its capabilities”, “Q&A: Defence firm’s UK chief discusses the nation’s future combat aircraft”, Politico, 18 June 2019

33 PQ85958, 7 September 2020

13 Commons Library Briefing, 30 March 2021

Gareth Jennings, writing in Jane’s Defence Weekly, says that, given the MOD opted to retain a portion of the tranche 1 fleet just six years ago, the decision to axe it now “smacks of budgetary rather than an operational decision.”34 Justin Bronk, research fellow for airpower and technology at RUSI, says that the new radar and weapons will give a significant lethality and survivability boost to the upgraded Typhoons. However, while the Typhoon force may be more capable, the aircraft will be spread thinner and its airframe hours at an even greater premium than before.35

Lightning is the short take-off and vertical landing version of the F-35 aircraft developed by the United States (the F-35B). 36 It is a multirole aircraft with stealthy characteristics, meaning it is designed to operate undetected in hostile airspace. It will be able to conduct air-to-air, air-to-surface, electronic warfare and intelligence gathering missions. It is described as a fifth-generation aircraft. It is operated jointly by the RAF and Royal Navy, flying from land bases and from the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, and based at RAF Marham.

The 48 aircraft are being procured in lots. The UK has so far taken delivery of 18 aircraft, contracted for 17 new airframes (for delivery between 2020 and 2022) and are in negotiations for further lots.37

Despite the then government committing to buying 138 aircraft over the life of the programme in the 2015 SDSR, that number has been questioned ever since. In 2018 the government told the Defence Committee the timing and choice of variant of the remaining 90 aircraft “has not yet been determined” and “analysis is under way to determine the choice of variant of the remaining 90 F-35s that meets both Combat Air and Carrier Strike requirements”.38 The Defence Secretary similarly avoided committing to a number during the debate on the Command Paper, telling MPs that “we will continue to purchase them util we have decided whether we have the right numbers to continue.”39

The Command Paper firmly commits to the development of a new Future Combat Air System, known as Tempest. The plans for Tempest were laid out in the 2018 Combat Air Strategy. The Minister for Defence Procurement, Jeremy Quin, discussed Tempest at length at the RUSI Air Power Conference, held two days after the release of the Command Paper. FCAS/Tempest is also discussed from an industry and international partnership perspective in the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy.

34 “UK Defence Command Paper: RAF to axe older Typhoons”, Jane’s Defence Weekly,

22 March 2021 35 Justin Bronk, “On fewer wings and a prayer for the future: The RAF and the Defence

Command Paper”, RUSI Defence Systems, 23 March 2021 36 The F-35A is land-based and flown by the US Air Force. The F-35C is the naval

variant for the US Navy’s carriers. The US Marine Corps fly the same variant as the UK, the F-35B. Other countries fly F-35A variants.

37 PQ83683, 7 September 2020 38 Defence Committee, Unclear for take-off? F-35 Procurement: Government response,

HC 845 2017-19, 26 February 2018 39 HC Deb 22 March 2021 c644

14 Defence Command Paper 2021: equipment cuts

Tempest will begin replacing Typhoon from 2035. Justin Bronk observes that while the investment commitment to Tempest is welcome “cuts to fund jam tomorrow have become cuts to tomorrow’s jam in exchange for the promise of jam in the far future.” In the meantime, RAF planners will have to try to meet a “wider range of national ambitions, against increasingly capable threats, with significantly diminished assets over the coming decades.”40

The Command Paper also confirms the retirement of the 14-strong fleet of C130J Hercules tactical transport aircraft by 2023. This is the third successive defence review in which the Hercules has had its retirement date changed. The 2010 SDSR intended to retire Hercules in 2022, a decade earlier than planned, before the 2015 SDSR delivered a reprieve by pledging to retain it in service until 2030.

Hercules entered service at the end of the last century and has worked across the globe delivering personnel, stores or humanitarian aid, or supporting the evacuation of UK nationals. The A400M Atlas transport aircraft was introduced to replace Hercules and the Command Paper says the A400M force will “increase its capacity and capability” operating alongside the C-17 Globemaster and Voyager. The C-17 provides the RAF with a long range strategic heavy-lift transport capability – it can deliver troops and cargo and land on relatively short and narrow runways. Voyager provides air-to-air refuelling but can also be configured to carry nearly 300 personnel or cargo.

The Sun says cutting the Hercules could have implications for Special Forces and the Parachute Regiment as the A400M Atlas has not been approved for simultaneous combat jumps and low-level missions.41

The E-3D Sentry will be retired in 2021. It will be replaced by the new E-7A Wedgetail aircraft to provide the UK’s Airborne Early Warning and Control capability. However, the paper confirms the fleet will only number three, not the previously expected five. There also appears to be a gap before Wedgetail is ready for use in 2023.

In March 2019 the MOD signed a £1.51bn contract with Boeing for five aircraft, but media reports in autumn 2020 speculated the number would be reduced to three. At the time Douglas Barrie, a military aerospace expert, explains that given maintenance and training needs, a fleet of three could create gaps in coverage. This, he said, would be “sub-optimal” given increasing Russian air activity. Justin Bronk similarly argues three is too few given the “iron law” of maintenance, serviceability and crew endurance. Bronk says the decision represents a “false economy” that should be reversed as soon as possible.42

The Commons Library discussed the Wedgetail programme in an Insight in October 2020.

40 Justin Bronk, “On fewer wings and a prayer for the future: The RAF and the Defence

Command Paper”, RUSI Defence Systems, 23 March 2021 41 “SAS grounded: Cuts to RAF’s legendary Hercules fleet could leave Special Forces

grounded”, The Sun, 24 March 2021 42 Justin Bronk, “On fewer wings and a prayer for the future: The RAF and the Defence

Command Paper”, RUSI Defence Systems, 23 March 2021

15 Commons Library Briefing, 30 March 2021

Hawk T1 aircraft are also to be retired.43 The command paper says the new military flying training system and further investment in synthetic training “will deliver more capable pilots more quickly and more efficiently.” The National Audit Office, in a 2019 report, criticised the military flying training system, saying students are taking longer to complete training than expected.44

The Bae146 jets will also be retired as planned by 2022. These aircraft primarily transport senior members of the Royal Family and senior government ministers and MOD civilian personnel.

43 Hawk T2 aircraft will continue to be used to train fast jet pilots. 44 “Investigation into military flying training”, National Audit Office, 4 September

2019, HC 2635 2017-19

16 Defence Command Paper 2021: equipment cuts

5. Consolidating the helicopter fleet

Helicopters (rotary-wing aircraft) are in use across all three services and Strategic Command.45

The Command Paper says investment in a new medium lift helicopter in the mid-2020s will enable a consolidation of the “disparate fleet of medium lift helicopters” from four platform types to one, including the replacement of Puma. It does not identify the other platforms.

Puma is expected to leave service in 2025 and the MOD had not previously indicated if, or how, it intended to replace it. Gareth Jennings says a medium lift helicopter is considered an essential capability.46 Several companies are already touting potential replacements for the new medium helicopter (NMH) requirement: Leonardo is pitching its AW149 medium-lift helicopter and Airbus a variant of its H175.47

The paper confirms the retirement of the oldest CH-47 Chinook helicopters. The armed forces operate several variants and the Chinook (heavy lift) sustainment programme will see it extended in service until the 2040s. Although flown by the RAF, the Chinook sustainment programme lies in Army Command’s budget.48

Analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies worry the reduction in air mobility (Puma and Chinook helicopters and Hercules aircraft) is at odds with the overall vision of the Integrated Review:

The overall reduction in airlift rests uncomfortably with the impetus within the Integrated Review for a greater global presence.49

The paper also confirms plans to upgrade AH-64 Apache attack helicopters to a “state of the art capability” by 2025. Apache first entered service in 2004 and originally had an out of service date of 2030 but this was extended in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review to 2040. Under the Apache Capability Sustainment Programme, in 2016 the MOD opted to upgrade the fleet with the purchase of 50 Apache Ah-64E (replacing the Mk1) from the US Government under a Foreign Military Sales arrangement.50 The

45 A list of variants currently in use in the UK’s armed forces is available in a written

answer from November 2020: PQ115511, 20 November 2020 46 “UK reveals Puma replacement plan”, Jane’s Defence Weekly, 23 February 2021 47 “UK Defence Command Paper: RAF, Army battlefield helicopter recapitalisation

plans laid out”, Jane’s Defence Weekly, 22 March 2021 48 See Defence Equipment Plan 2019, section 4.2 49 “The UK’s new model forces”, IISS, 24 March 2021 50 “MOD orders new fleet of cutting-edge Apache helicopters for the Army”, Ministry

of Defence, 11 July 2016

Major helicopter types

Apache

An attack helicopter used by the army. Chinook

One of the most easily recognisable with its two rotors. Carries heavy loads and transports personnel. Wildcat

A multirole aircraft used by the Army and Royal Navy from surface ships. Merlin

Flies from surface ships and used by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. Puma

The RAF’s medium lift helicopter. Provides tactical transport. Gazelle

Small reconnaissance helicopter

17 Commons Library Briefing, 30 March 2021

helicopters will begin entering service with the Army in 202251 with final delivery planned for 2024.52

51 “MOD orders new fleet of cutting-edge Apache helicopters for the Army”, Ministry

of Defence, 11 July 2016. The number of Apache variants in service between 2018 and 2024 is set out in correspondence with the Defence Committee, 12 December 2018

52 PQ272138, 9 July 2018

BRIEFING PAPER Number 9188 30 March 2021

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