Ships in danger say Navy chiefs, as Sea Harriers are scrapped
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 28/03/2004)
The Ministry of Defence is placing Britain's sailors in danger by scrapping the Royal Navy's fleet of Sea Harrier jump jets, senior officers are warning.
The first of the Navy's three squadrons of Sea Harriers, which protect Britain's warships from air attack, will be decommissioned on Wednesday, taking seven aircraft out of service.
Navy Sea Harriers hovering over HMS Invincible
The Navy's remaining 20 Sea Harriers will be scrapped during the next two years, but their replacement, the Joint Strike Fighter, is not due to come into service until 2012 and is only at the prototype stage.
Until then, the Sea Harriers will be replaced by the RAF's slower ground attack versions of the jump jet, the GR7 and GR9, which will be fitted with a Sidewinder air-to-air missile, designed primarily for self defence.
The Government insists that the risk will be "acceptable", but naval officers and the Conservatives have accused ministers of placing service personnel in unnecessary danger.
A senior Navy officer told the Telegraph: "This is potentially one of the most disastrous military decisions ever undertaken. A perfectly capable air interceptor whose function is to seek out and destroy enemy aircraft in order to protect a fleet of ships is being replaced with an aircraft that can't do this."
Nicholas Soames, the shadow defence secretary, said: "The Government has chosen to take a calculated risk with the air defence of the fleet in the coming years. Recent history, and the current threat environment, show that this is a cut that they may well come to regret.
"If we need to put a task force to sea again, the lack of this aircraft will seriously compromise options available to the commander."
The Fleet Air Arm has three Sea Harrier squadrons, two operational - 800 and 801 - and 899 Naval Air Squadron, which is used for training. The 800 Squadron, which has seven aircraft, will be decommissioned on Wednesday at Yeovilton Royal Naval Air Station, Somerset; 899 Squadron, which comprises 13 Sea Harriers, will be disbanded next year, followed by the seven aircraft of 801 Squadron in 2006.
The role of the Sea Harrier has been to protect surface ships and ground troops from air attack. Equipped with a highly sophisticated radar and armed with the advanced medium range air-to-air missile, Amraam, it has the capability to attack enemy aircraft at ranges of more than 30 miles.
Two years ago, however, the Government decided to withdraw them from service, rather than spend £1 billion on an upgrade that would have extended their life until 2012, when the Joint Strike Fighter arrives. The ground-attack version that will be replacing it has neither the Sea Harrier's forward looking air defence radar nor its Amraam medium range air defence missile, undermining its capacity to defend Britain's warships.
Cdr "Sharkey" Ward, the former commanding officer of 801 Squadron said the decision was a "disgrace".
He said: "If a task force has to put to sea any time in the next 10 years, which in the present circumstances is highly likely, the lives of British troops will be put at risk. To send a task force to sea would be suicide without proper air cover."
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "With the demise of the Sea Harrier, the Royal Navy will be left with a capability gap. But we believe that that is an acceptable risk."
