In a recent House of Lords debate, Defence Minister Lord Coaker addressed concerns over the decommissioning of military equipment and outlined the Government’s commitment to modernising the Armed Forces to meet future challenges.
Stressing the importance of unity in defence, he emphasised the shared goal of ensuring the best for the Armed Forces.
“We all want the best for our country and for our Armed Forces, and here there is no division between us,” Lord Coaker stated. He also paid tribute to the Armed Forces’ global contributions and acknowledged the bipartisan support for their efforts in Ukraine.
A Necessary Step?
Lord Coaker responded to questions from Baroness Goldie and Baroness Smith of Newnham regarding the rationale behind retiring ageing equipment such as landing platform docks, Type 23 frigates, and Chinook helicopters. He noted that these decisions were guided by advice from military chiefs.
“All of this has been backed by all the chiefs in the Ministry of Defence,” he said. “We are trying to accelerate the replacement of the Type 23 frigates with eight of the world’s most advanced, Type 26 anti-submarine ships.”
On landing platform docks, he added, “Neither ship had been to sea since 2023—indeed, HMS Bulwark had not since 2017.”
He explained that older systems, such as Watchkeeper drones and Puma helicopters, would be replaced with modern alternatives better suited to current and future conflicts. “If we do not support such decommissioning, we will have equipment that is 50, 60 or even 80 years old. That is ridiculous. You have to move on and take difficult decisions.”
Commitment to Future Capabilities
The Minister highlighted the forthcoming deployment of HMS Prince of Wales leading a carrier strike group to the Indo-Pacific in 2025. “That is where the carrier will be next year, demonstrating hard power and defence diplomacy,” he remarked, framing the mission as a commitment to the international rules-based order and freedom of navigation.
He also reaffirmed the Government’s pledge to protect key programmes like the nuclear deterrent and the AUKUS partnership. “The nuclear deterrent and AUKUS will be protected. There might be better ways of doing both, but it will not be at the cost of the ability of those systems.”
Addressing concerns over defence procurement and its impact on UK industries, Lord Coaker said the Government aimed to build much of the new equipment domestically. “We hope that much of it will be built within the UK, across the whole of the UK, benefiting all the regions and nations.”
He acknowledged challenges posed by national insurance increases but reassured that these costs would not directly impact the Armed Forces.
“Of course, national insurance will have an impact on other firms as it will for all firms.”
Lord Coaker concluded by highlightig the need to adapt to modern threats. “The defence equipment plan before us seeks to decommission equipment that we believe is out of date. New equipment can be better placed to meet the threats we face: it is the wars of the future we need to fight, not the wars of the past.”
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Just wave the carrier deployment at them as a distraction, and it probably works too lol. Bunch of morons
Fed up of carrier photo-ops being used as a Band-Aid by successive Governments and First Sea Lords
“benefiting all the regions and nations.”
I hope we’re not going down the USA route where government contracts are handed out to specific states to protect jobs and the local congressman’s re-election chances.
Yes I suspect we are thus taking any competition out of the process. Lots more cost plus contracts I suspect rather than fixed price. Putting the tax payer on the hook rather than the supplier. Forgive the cynicism but It’s not like they’ve gone easy on tax payers to date.
We already have our UK variant of it…
The UK Armed forces are force fed politically mandated UK procured equipment Watchkeeper/Wildcat etc,etc, if they want it or not.
Mind the Gap!
No one is suggesting we keep kit for 50 years.
One should have replacement equipment entering service before retirement/cutting of the outgoing.
Did all the RAF Jaguars and Buccanears get withdrawn before Tornado GR1 entered service? DID THEY?!
No.
You’re cutting to save money and leaving gaps in capability and numbers, just like the last lot.
Bulwark. Was finishing a refit, spend money, recruit sailors.
Or, keep her in reserve for the 9 million a year.
The Waves, perfectly good ships. But let’s get rid anyway as “We have enough” in the 4 Tides.
Assume you had that rationale with the Chinookforce:
60 cabs. Plenty.
Cut to 51.
Now another 14, leaving 37. Now not so many.
Nice work.
How many years before the 14 ER versions are in service?
As always, cuts camouflaged as modernisation.
You fool nobody but the electorate, and that’s what you rely on.
Totally agree, the government must plan to ensure new capability/equipment is brought in before old disposed of. Even old kit is better than fighting with nothing which is what we risk when gaps are created. If Healy can’t fight the treasury for 100m a year which is 0.0018% of the budget than we gave areal problem
This Government is risible, we know this from the past few Months. Is what is serious though is we have been supplying Kit to the Ukraine for over 1000 days but little or nothing beyond the leisurely pace of Defence appropriations has been evident.
In fact there has been a cut in overall numbers in all three branches of the Armed Forces. The Navy is down to 7 frigates from 10. The RAF has still not regained its AWACs and has lost the C130’s. The Army still is nowhere to be seen having not replaced its Challenger 2’s, Its Warriors, Its reconn, Its Artillery etc, etc.
This really is getting dangerous. Kicking Defence down the Road is Not an option for Change. The Labour Government could easily order more F35B’s, AWACs or MPA’s and hold onto Bulwark and the 2 Wave tankers. The List goes on.
Its all very well saying we will have such and such coming into service in 2035. War’s dont wait like that. Everyone who is in risk assessment in Defence is becoming truely alarmed at this idle brain dead response. We certainly need to hear that something is going to be cut in some other area to pay for this. I suggest the whole Net Zero Budget is allocated to Defence as well as all the Accomodation and Benefits of the intruders and subsidies for Foreign Farmers. We’ve seen enough of this wrong prioritising. The Defence of the Realm is the first duty of Government.
I agree. To answer the oft-asked question ‘could the armed forces go to war tonight’ the answer is sadly ‘Yes but with a dangerously weakened field force’.
I was in the army for 34 years. If I were still serving I would be very concerned at deploying on General War against a peer or near-peer opponent tonight.
According to Defence Equipment & Support, deliveries of the 14 CH-47-ER Chinooks will begin in 2027 and finish in 2029.
Thanks. A 3 year gap with less and 5 overall.
Extremely well articulated. Mind the gap.
Hi Mate -“Mind the gap” – brilliant, made my day! Seriously though, that’s a sobering summary. it’s not just about modernisations and replacement. The elephant in the room is the lack of expansion. We can forget about a return to the magical figure of 24 surface vessels for the RN, we’ll be lucky to land on 19. I wonder if the Albion Bulwark loss will be a self inflicted rod for Labour’s back? They may now be compelled to maintain both QE2 carrier operational – one as a “Commando carrier” ?
I’m not overly fussed re the Chinook reduction , but we need a decent Puma replacement really soon +2 more Wedgetails I can’t see the A400M fleet expanding beyond 22 .My fast jet force prediction post SDR ’25: 6 Typhoon + 4 F35 sqns.
“If we do not support such decommissioning, we will have equipment that is 50, 60, or even 80 years old. That is ridiculous. You have to move on and take difficult decisions.”
I’m sorry but what? The US operates B-52s that are over 70 years old and they remain highly effective because they’re maintained and modernized. I’m not suggesting we should cling to outdated systems indefinitely but it has been proven it can be done. Cutting our entire LPD fleet, retiring all Pumas and scrapping Watchkeepers without any replacement plan is beyond comprehension. Not to mention NMH has come to a complete standstill with only 1 Bidder!
I agree these systems needed to be phased out however retaining them even in a mothballed state especially the bulwarks would at least preserve critical capabilities in case of an emergency. Prematurely retiring assets without replacements or waiting for the SDR to inform these decisions is nothing short of reckless.
I would have thought that one of the lessons the government and those at the top of the military would have taken from the war in Ukraine is that old weapons are better than having zero. I guess not then.
Yes, capability gap seems to be a recurrence in British armed forces.
Better ways of doing the nuclear deterrent and AUKUS? Is this just a throw away reassurance or is there something of substance behind it? We are fully committed to Dreadnought and Trident so I don’t see how that could change. AUKUS is still in the early stages of planning so I have no idea what doing it better might mean.
I took it as a subtle acknowledgement of the fact that capabilities are being ‘gapped’ (again), by ‘reassuring’ us that those particular capabilities won’t be.
Of course they won’t. Greatest £ passed to industry, always HMG priority over giving conventional forces enough people and kit.
If, say, in a decades time GCAP is cancelled by a future government after 12.5 BILLION of Mods budget was spent on it, do we think MoD get that money back?!
Course not, industry is rubbing it’s hands with glee.
I don’t think anyone objects to old systems being retired – it’s the risky game of delaying replacements for financial reasons and hoping the capability gap doesn’t happen when we need them. Too many defence ministers have rolled the dice, gotten away with it, and sailed off to other jobs while patting themselves on the back for being ‘efficient’ when in fact they were just lucky.
So let’s be clear this saves 0.0018% of the defence budget per year, the defence secretary can’t even stand up to the treasury such a tiny part of the budget then defence really in a bad way. I bet Reave’s spread sheet does even round to 4 decimal places. 😀.
Simply they,re scrapping the armed forces step by step , the waves and HMS Bulwark still they were totallly valid assets , the savings are ridículous compared with the gaps in the forces they will leave.
Defence is not a priority for any british politician.
Cuts now, Jam tomorrow. Sounds familiar.
The key word here is “ Replacement” which begs the question “ When”?
The vessel to replace the two Albions is still at the back of the envelope stage and at best a decade away.
Old kit is Better than No kit. Ask the Ukrainians!!!
We should not be limiting our capability in anyway at this present time. TOO Risky!! Let’s get recruitment levels up so we can crew all of this new kit. I do not believe that we cannot FAST Track the build/fitout of the first Type 26’s. What a message that would send to our potential adversaries. HMS Dreadnought was built in a year and a Day. What an example
to follow. Just needs the Cash and the Will to Succeed.
We need a threat to our idle Politicians. Something that really frightens them like a new Law that holds them Liable for Manslaughter if a serious War starts and we find ourselves with the serious prospect of defeat. Life imprisonment might be somewhere to start.
Prior Planning Prevents Pi*% Poor Performance. My assessment of HMG, HMT and the MoD over the past 30 years = Pi*% Poor. Hence having to retire very old equipment without replacement. Shameful really.
This is a Jam tomorrow and waiting for Godot MoD/Gvernment promise and economy. Goes on and on and on…..
We’re modernising by having less capability, a modern navy does not need as many tankers as a modern navy does not need LPDs because in modern navy warfare one man and dinghy can do a beach landing and take on the enemy all on his own.
I suppose we should be great full this time we not waiting for the ships and aircraft to come off operations to retire them like most of the last decade, we don’t need them so we can retire them, just waiting for them to come back from active duty though..
“we will have equipment that is 50, 60 or even 80 years old. That is ridiculous. You have to move on and take difficult decisions.” Let me state the obvious….FV 432!!!!!!!! So you are ok with moving on and taking difficult decisions, good so here are a few, increase the defence budget by a substantial amount, get your heads out of your arses and procure off the shelf kit, which is modern and relevant, and make an effort at recruiting people. Not too much to ask is it?
Trouble is anything we would want to order would put us at the back of any queue for anything good😟
However the cousins are upgrading stored Bradley’s to A4 standard they are already built so the waiting time would be minimal and an ideal replacement for warrior,just cut the Boxer order to pay for them👍
Royal Navy cut the amphibs when they cut the numbers of Royal and decided that raiding was in, beach assault was out. That’s life.
Chinooks? Can’t comment. T23, wasting good money after bad and that can’t be laid at the door of Labour.
HOWEVER, “we are trying to speed up the delivery of T26.” Did anyone else notice that comment which is puzzling and yet omits mention of T31. Call Sherlock Holmes, the game is afoot.
No, the impression around the world would simply be, the UK is weak and not a global power and lacks hard power.
If it were not for being one of the initial nations having nukes, the UK would not be on the UN security council.
Albion and bulwark aren’t 50 , 60 , 70 or 80 year old gear , hardly worked really when you compare her to ferries etc . So minister is talking sh.. !
I think personally they have agreed to scrap them to keep the 2nd carrier , they all as bad as each other . Not till the shit hots the fan and lives lost then the sorry’s will start … to late.
There is the world of difference between the service chiefs advising that these equipments be retired…and quickly, often before replacements arrive in service….and service chiefs being railroaded into accepting their political masters decision. Which is it, I wonder?
‘He noted that these decisions were guided by advice from military chiefs’ OR…
“All of this has been backed by all the chiefs in the Ministry of Defence,” he said. “
It seems to be that, the political masters have demanded from the service chiefs for £500 of savings, and says which is it to be?
The service chiefs reply with delivering their recommendations and advice!
If the Government doesnt pay systematic attention to dealing with the nightmare swamp that is Procurement, they will obsolete-decomission our Armed Forces to non-existence.
Frankly the T26 project schedule is ridiculous. Drag it out to save money, actually end up losing money due to inflation.
Always jam tomorrow but now there is no toast to put the jam on. Getting rid of the most flexible AO’s is a disgrace at £253Million to build and only a 19 year life span for Wave Knight and 15yrs for Wave Ruler!!!!!!! The LPD’s are even less!!!!!
Disgraceful all because the Navy and RFA cannot recruit or keep staff. What is this country coming too?
What can be done to go against the government against these cuts ?
Hms argyle , sold just refitted , not better keeping argyle and giving a yard a fuff type 23 for apprenticeships ??? My missing something here?
Why is capability gapping not ‘a thing’ elsewhere in Government? They are not closing old prisons or hospitals or police stations before their replacements are in place!
Why do it with Defence, when Defence is the first responsibility of Government – even politicians of every political stripe chant that mantra.
What modernisation, this government cannot even spin BS correctly.
The previous government, sub par as they were ordered the T26 frigates and T31, not Labour. Fact
This government hasn’t ordered anything and only cut capabilities – The argument ships cut were technically not in service is a complete crock, refits are a normal part of service lives and it is generally quicker to return a refitted ship to service than build a new one and loose capability for lengthy construction periods.
The Albions should never be retired without like replacements ready. Nothing else is capable of delivering heavy equipment to a beach head. Or extracting forces in an evacuation. How many LPDs have the PLAN srapped recenty? The world is burning but we cut fire fighting it seems like.
Severe bullshit is what’s going on ! The cost of 4 x storm shadow missiles will cover albion and bulwark , waken up people !!
Ahh the good old days waaaaay back in 2023, when Trump was just a lowly felon, people called ‘X’, ‘X formerly known as Twitter’ and global warming was a twinkling star explained away as El Nino and we thought it would go back down a degree and Albion was a mighty seaworthy vessel. Simpler times, those 11 months have flown by and time has taken it’s toll and now Albion is irreversibly aged to the point funding must be re assigned to 3 missiles for Ukraine and 7 middle managers in the NHS plus the money they will imbezzle and end up on Saints and Sinners with Dom.
Apologies it was Saints and Scroungers. Accuracy is important in these times of modernisation