Shocking report reveals ‘gaping holes’ left in UK’s defences after decades of cuts
Experts have called for the government to "re-bench" the armed forces against a resurgent Russia
BRITAIN'S military defences have been left with gaping holes including warships so noisy Russian subs can hear them 100 miles away and light tanks which are too big to fly anywhere, according to an investigation.
An investigation by the has uncovered huge equipment failures and bungled procurement deals - including spending £1billion on drones which haven't entered frontline service 12 years after being ordered.
Now there are fears the armed forces would be unable to defend Britain from an attack after the damning information was revealed.
General Sir Richard Barrons, a former commander of Joint Forces Command, called for the government to "re-bench" the armed forces against the threat of a resurgent Russia.
He told the Sunday Times: "You are dealing with a legacy of iterative hollowing out, which has reached a point where the frog has boiled.”
It comes as experts criticised warships, drones, spy planes and tanks which they say are not up to scratch.
Rear Admiral Chris Parry, a former MoD director of operational capability, slammed the army's £1billion-a-piece Type 45 destroyers as sounding like a "box of spanners"underwater.
And the fleet of six also have engine problems which cause them to shut down in warm seas - with new diesel generators expected to take nine years to install.
Parry told the Sunday Times he believes the navy overlooked suppressing warships' noise after the Cold War ended because the threat from Russian submarines had diminished.
But the Russians now have new Kilo-class hunter-killer submarines - dubbed the "Black Hole" because they are so quiet.
Parry said: "“We have forgotten all about it — it’s crazy. Noise suppression has been probably the biggest dirty secret since the end of the Cold War that people have been cheerfully ignoring.”
The MoD insisted stealth was not a "premium requirement" for the warships.
Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, a former first sea lord, said: “You design noise quietening into warships that are designed to detect and track submarines. We never designed the Type 45 to be a quiet warship.”
The investigation reveals problems with a host of other weapons systems in the army, navy and RAF.
The army’s new £3.5bn Ajax light armoured vehicles - designed to penetrate enemy territory quickly - are said to be too big to fit into the RAF’s main transport aircraft without being dismantled - and experts believe they will need to be flown with a crane.
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The army's 54 Watchkeeper reconnaissance drones, which cost £1.2bn, have still not entered full service 12 years after they were ordered because of technical glitches.
And Britain’s new maritime spy planes, bought for the RAF in a £3bn deal, “cannot execute the full range of mission tasks” and could be vulnerable to cyber-attack, American defence reports reveal.
But defence chiefs are under pressure to make £1bn worth of savings every year for a decade to pay for the MoD’s “underfunded” equipment plan.
Barrons said the cost of expensive weapons programmes such as submarines and warships rises every year because the government has to buy kit from a small pool of defence firms due to industrial policy and sovereign security.
The general claims year of defence cuts have left the army, navy and air force with an “existential minimum” amount of military equipment and stores.
But the MoD said Britain’s defence budget is the biggest in Europe and “is growing every year”.
It added: “We are focused on maintaining an affordable programme and getting the best value for the taxpayer to deliver the cutting-edge kit [that] our armed forces need to keep Britain safe.”
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