UK PM to order £1.5bn defence cuts

Gordon Brown is to approve about £1.5bn of cuts to "low priority" defence projects over the next three years as part of a reform package that will shift resources to Afghanistan and ease the crippling defence budget shortfall.




Final details are still under negotiation but the measures will include cuts to the existing Harrier and Tornado fighter jet fleet, an early drawdown of Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft and thousands of staff cuts across the armed forces and Whitehall.



The sacrifices will be offset by moves to boost spending on critical frontline equipment for the Afghan campaign. The prime minister, who visited troops in Afghanistan at the weekend, will fast track an order for at least 20 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters and purchase new surveillance systems to counter roadside bombs, additional fighting vehicles, and one more C-17 transport aircraft.



Defence insiders insisted the additional kit would have been unaffordable without cuts elsewhere.



The Royal Air Force is expected to bear the brunt of what one industry executive described as a "gruesome" budget planning round for 2010 but the Royal Navy will also take a survey ship and mine hunter out of service early.



One of the most contentious issues yet to be resolved is the production timetable - or "drumbeat" - for the Astute submarines, which some defence officials have recommended should be slowed.



Before the final package is unveiled tomorrow, Mr Brown is likely to come under concerted pressure from both industry and parts of the armed forces to postpone or abandon the cost-cutting measures.



The final decision will bring to an end months of tense negotiations over the 2010 budget planning round. Defence officials say savings were identified on the basis there would be no impact on the frontline and that no decisions should pre-empt the strategic defence review next year.



"This is not about spending cuts," said one Whitehall figure. "The defence budget will rise in line with inflation. It is about getting an overspent programme into shape and aligned with our strategic priorities for defence."



While the plan will ease immediate spending pressures, the medium-term outlook for defence equipment spending is bleak. Existing commitments far outstrip projections of available funds, even in the unlikely event that defence is spared from the looming public spending squeeze.



The Ministry of Defence is expected to be forced to make much bigger sacrifices after the strategic defence review, including significant reductions in the order for Joint Strike Fighter jets.



Although the exact numbers are yet to be decided, the cuts to the Tornado and Harrier fleet and the early withdrawal of the ageing Nimrod are bound to threaten the future of several large air bases.



The services and MoD are also pressing to whittle down the numbers of staff in low-priority areas, which will amount to job losses for thousands of civilian and uniformed personnel.



The order for the Boeing-made Chinooks, worth up to £1bn in additional MoD spending, will be spread over 10 years, but some new helicopters could be available for Afghanistan within a year or two. Funding for the helicopters will be partly taken from the cancellation of the Future Medium Helicopter programme, which was supposed to replace the UK's ageing Sea King and Puma fleets.



The purchase of the additional C17 from Boeing is partly in response to growing demand for airlift capability for Afghanistan.



However, defence insiders insisted it did not signal that Britain would scale back its order of the Airbus A400M transport aircraft, which made its maiden flight last week