UK military faces massive cuts while Storm Shadow missiles hit Russian soil
British-made Storm Shadow missiles struck Russian territory for first time as Defence Secretary announces £500M in military cuts. The cuts affect major equipment programs across navy‚ army and air force
On nov 20th John Healey announced £500M worth of defence cuts - just as British-made Storm Shadow missiles hit Russian soil for first time. The UK-produced missiles targeted a military site in Marino village (Kursk region) where Russians kept important command-center in old estate cellars
The cuts affect major military equipment including:
- Armyʼs Watchkeeper drone fleet
- Navy ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark
- Type 23 frigate HMS Northumberland
- Wave class tankers
- 14 old Chinooks and 17 Puma copters
For our enemies to be deterred they must know we intend no holes in our capabilities or at least we will soon be upgrading them
The missile strike happened right after US allowed ATACMS weapons use inside Russia - a response to North-Koreas troops deployment in Kursk. Moscow threatened to use its RS-26 missiles against Kyiv as pay-back
James Cartlidge shadow defence secretary pointed out that cutting military power now - when threats are growing bigger is totally wrong timing. The cuts came after Rachel Reeves found £22B gap in UK budget; some sources think government tried to hide bad news behind Storm Shadow strike reports
The defence secretary called these changes “common-sense decisions“ that previous governments didnt make - but hinted at more cuts coming soon. A new defence review next year might ask military to do more tasks with less money and equipment
