Fury as Labour proclaims huge army cuts whereas Putin threatens WWIII: Helicopters, assault ships, a frigate and drones will all be axed regardless of warnings it should ship improper message to Britain’s enemies

Labour has announced swingeing cuts to the UK’s defence capabilities even as Britain is being dragged closer into direct conflict with Russia.

In a shocking move which sent alarming signals to the Kremlin, 31 frontline helicopters and a pair of Commando assault ships were axed.

While despite the domination of drones on the Ukrainian battlefield, the UK is to lose a staggering 46 Watchkeeper Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

A Royal Navy frigate and a pair of ‘fast fleet tankers’, which provide fuel for aircraft carriers, are also being chopped as part of the jaw-dropping plans.

The decision by Defence Secretary John Healey was met by shock and fury today.

Sources said the cuts delivered entirely the wrong message to Britain’s enemies and allies such as the United States.

The timing was also challenged as it coincides with the US ramping up its support for Ukraine – and as other NATO members are boosting their military capabilities.

One senior naval figure remarked: ‘Try telling Donald Trump these helicopters and ships were getting old and were costing more to repair, he’ll only hear that Britain is making cuts’.

Announcing the cuts in Parliament this afternoon, Mr Healey told MPs: ‘I recogonise that these will mean a lot to mean who have sailed and flown in them during their deployment around the world, but their work is done we must look now to the future.’

The Ministry of Defence has calculated it can save £500million over five years by scrapping these platforms, which it insists are either ageing or obsolete.

Defence Secretary John Healey has committed that this additional revenue will remain in his department and fund the development of more advanced equipment.

He is also due to announce a series of reforms inside the MoD to accelerate the procurement of the latest kit and weapons, and changes intended to address recruitment and retention issues.

Troops are leaving the armed forces in record numbers while insufficient numbers are enlisting – after a private contractor.

Predictably, the currently serving top brass publicly supported the moves, led by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.

He said: ‘Accelerating the disposal of legacy equipment is the logical approach to focus on the transition to new capabilities that better reflect changing technology and tactics.

‘It also complements our taking some tough decisions to ease some of the current financial pressures.’

While the head of the Army, General Sir Roly Walker said: ‘I’ve flown many missions in Chinook and Puma helicopters and will miss them. But warhorses must go out to pasture. 

‘We have found faster, better and cheaper ways. Warfare is changing and we need to think and act differently.’

The landing platforms HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark will be retired at the end of this year, a decade ahead of their intended departure. Official defence sources have insisted keeping them made no sense.

But their retirement could affect the Royal Marines as the UK’s commandos could not perform a large-scale beach landing without these support ships.

The ‘Albion Class’ vessels have a capacity for hundreds of amphibious troops, around 30 armoured all-terrain tracked vehicles or up to six tanks.

The ships also have helicopter landing pads and eight landing craft for commandos to storm a beachhead.

According to the Royal Navy these ships ‘deliver the punch of the Royal Marines to land by sea or by air’ – begging the question today/yesterday how this can be achieved without Albion and Buwark.

Bulwark recently completed a £150 million refit at Devenport docks – money which, in light of today’s announcement, would seem to have been entirely wasted.

As a senior Marine source told the Mail: ‘The loss of Albion and Bulwark will fundamentally change the role of the Royal Marines, moving away from amphibious landings.

‘Instead they will be forced to operate as a small strike force, focusing on counter-terrorism operations and missions at sea. There could be no Falklands or D-Day-style operations without such ships.’

The Royal Air Force’s oldest 14 Chinooks, from its present fleet of 51 Chinooks, will be grounded.

Controversially, replacements for these reliable and versatile helicopters will not enter service until at least 2027.

Even though the withdrawal of the oldest Chinooks will be staggered, to minimise impact on operational capabilities, Britain’s armed forces will still lose some troop lifting capability for at least two years.

The 17 Puma helicopters being axed are currently based in Cyprus and Brunei. Defence sources have stressed that commercial helicopters can be procured to perform the same roles at lower cost.

The decision to retire 46 Watchkeeper Mk1 drones has been taken after MOD technologists concluded the software aboard these UAVs was ‘outdated’.

This is no surprise as the drone entered service 15 years ago to support British Army ground operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

A significant drawback of Watchkeeper was its unreliability in intemperate weather conditions. The fleet cost a reported £1.4 billion yet could not fly when there was heavy cloud cover.

Earlier this year it emerged that none of the UK’s Watchkeepers were being used anywhere in the world on operations.

While in training some crashed due to an increase in weight brought on by more than 2,000 ‘additional system requirements’.

HMS Northumberland, a Type-23 frigate will be retired after a planned refit of the warship unearthed extensive structural damage.

The time and investment required to repair the vessel was considered uneconomical in today’s straitened financial environment.

As it was not at sea, or available for operations, the decision to retire her does not impact upon the Royal Navy’s current capability levels.

As the Mail has revealed, a paucity of frigates and destroyers have been available to set sail in recent months as so many require repairs – and dry dock space is so limited.

The Mail also exclusively revealed how earlier this year Britain did not have a single ‘attack’ submarine operational. This despite the increase in Russian subsurface naval operations in the North Sea.

Similarly the Wave Class tankers, RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler, which are used to replenish warships and aircraft carriers at sea, have not set sail for years.

Since then another class of tankers has been introduced, the Tide Class, as these will be used to support next year’s major Carrier Strike Group (CSG) operations in the Pacific.