Defence Secretary John Healey has announced more changes to the armed forces, detailing several capabilities to be cut to achieve savings of £500 million over the next five years. The Royal Navy’s two amphibious assault ships, HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion, will be retired at the end of the year, while HMS Northumberland, a Type 23 frigate, will be decommissioned because her structural damage is ‘uneconomical to repair’.
The retirement of the amphibious assault ships has profound implications for the future role of the Royal Marines
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s two Wave-class fast fleet tankers, RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler, will also be retired. They have been in ‘extended readiness’ – that is, maintained but uncrewed and not scheduled for deployment – since February 2022. The Royal Air Force will part with 17 Puma HC2 transport helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, and the Army will lose 41 Watchkeeper M1 unmanned aerial vehicles used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.
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