Category Archives: Military

UK to accelerate military planning to support Ukraine, No 10 says

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Intensive talks to take place next week on detail and structure of any British deployments if ceasefire deal reached

The UK is to “accelerate the pace and scale” of its military planning to be ready to support Ukraine, with No 10 saying all options, including troops on the ground, are possible.

Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said thousands of troops would be needed to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and agreement to end the war with Russia, whether by “sea, on land or in the air”.

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‘As real as it can get’: EU to loan €150bn for European defence from invasion

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EU launches scheme to buy more weapons in Europe as Russia remains ‘a threat for the foreseeable future’

Europe needs to be able to deter potential invaders by 2030, the EU executive has said as it launched a push to buy more weapons in the bloc and from allied countries, rather than from the US.

The UK, US and Turkey will be excluded from defence contracts funded by a €150bn (£125bn) EU loans programme, unless they sign a security and defence partnership agreement with the EU.

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John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, the last Battle of Britain pilot, dies aged 105

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The pilot, whose squadron shot down 90 enemy aircraft in an 11-day period in 1940, called himself the ‘lucky Irishman’

The last surviving Battle of Britain pilot, John “Paddy” Hemingway, has died aged 105.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) said Hemingway, a member of “the Few” who took to the skies during the second world war, died peacefully on Monday.

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US support to maintain UK’s nuclear arsenal is in doubt, experts say

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Malcolm Rifkind joins diplomats and analysts urging focus on European cooperation to replace Trident

Britain’s ability to rely on the US to maintain the UK’s nuclear arsenal is now in doubt, experts have warned, but working with European states to replace it will be costly and take time.

An existing debate about the future of Trident – Britain’s ageing submarine-launched nuclear missile system – has taken a dramatic new turn in recent weeks amid fears Donald Trump could pull out of Nato.

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Starmer highlights UK’s war record in implicit rebuke to Vance as Lib Dems mock Badenoch for defending him – as it happened

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Interventions follow US vice president’s comments about ‘20,000 troops from some random country that has not fought a war in 40 years’. This live blog is closed

In response to a question about intelligence cooperation with the US, Sir David Manning, a former ambassador to Washington, said he thought this would become “more difficult” because there was a problem of trust. He explained:

If you have some of Trump’s appointees in these key jobs who have very strange track records, and have said very strange things about Nato allies, the Nato alliance and so on, and you have people in the administration who seem to be, let’s say, looking for ways of appeasing Russia, then you have a problem on the intelligence front, because these are not the values that we have.

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VE Day 2025: Tower of London poppies to return to mark 80th anniversary

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Four days of events planned in Britain to commemorate eight decades since end of second world war in Europe

For the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day the Cenotaph will be draped in union flags and there will be a military procession and flypast as well as a new installation of about 30,000 ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, it has been announced.

Four days of commemorations will begin on the bank holiday Monday of 5 May in tribute to the millions of people across the UK and Commonwealth who served in the second world war.

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How do we make Europe more secure? Here are five steps we need to take now

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Europe can’t wait to react to Trump’s mood swings but must show we have the will and the wallet to take back control

• Ukraine war live

It’s exhausting and humiliating to have no control – watching every meeting in the Oval Office for a glimmer of Trump’s approval or displeasure, our security resting on a perceived slight or a mood.

The last week of meetings between Trump, Macron, Starmer and finally Zelenskyy always felt like crawling across a minefield. Some might agonise about whether Zelenskyy could have played things differently. It’s the wrong question. The point is that we can’t carry on being so dependent on every meeting at the White House. Until we start taking charge of our future, we will always be one heart palpitation away from dreading doomsday.

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Starmer unlikely to unveil plan for rise in defence spending this week, says minister

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Bridget Phillipson calls 2.5% target ‘ambitious’ days before PM meets with Donald Trump in Washington

Keir Starmer is unlikely to set out a plan this week for when the UK will increase its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, a cabinet minister has indicated.

The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the target was ambitious, despite Labour previously claiming it would set out a path to meeting the spending goal after the strategic defence review in the spring.

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Jaysley Beck inquest prompts flood of testimonies of abuse in UK military

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Ministry of Defence says lessons learned from death will make military safer, but victims and families say they have heard it all before

A soldier left suicidal after complaints about a senior officer were ignored. Two women told they needed to grow up or their heads would be banged together after they complained about sexual harassment by their major. A servicewoman raped and left with post-traumatic stress disorder while her attacker was given a slap on the wrist.

Online army forums have been flooded this week with testimonies of abuse – and the military’s failure to tackle it – sparked by the inquest into the death of 19-year-old gunner Jaysley Beck. The head of the army, Gen Sir Roly Walker, has expressed his disgust and suggested senior ranks may even be “actively complicit” in abusive behaviour. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has promised that lessons will be learned.

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Kabul evacuation whistleblower wins case against UK government

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Civil servant Josie Stewart found to have been unlawfully dismissed in 2022 after she told BBC about failures

A civil servant who blew the whistle about the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and Boris Johnson’s involvement in a decision to evacuate a pet charity from Kabul has won her case for unfair dismissal against the government in a legal first.

An employment panel of three judges unanimously found the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) unfairly dismissed Josie Stewart in 2021 after she leaked information in the public interest.

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Colleagues of soldier, 19, found dead criticise response to sexual assault claims

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Jaysley Beck’s friends tell inquest she did not report her boss because her previous complaint was ‘squashed’

Colleagues of a 19-year-old soldier found dead in her barracks room after allegedly being sexually assaulted by an officer twice her age have strongly criticised how her complaint about the incident was dealt with.

One colleague of Gnr Jaysley Beck confirmed at her inquest he was “incensed” that WOI Michael Webber was only subject to a “minor sanction” after he allegedly pinned the teenager down and tried to kiss her during an adventure training exercise.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

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British soldier who took own life was scared of ‘psychotic and possessive’ boss

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Ryan Mason sent Jaysley Beck, 19, thousands of WhatsApp texts in a month, inquest hears

A 19-year-old soldier found dead in her room at an army camp had become frightened at the “psychotic and possessive” behaviour of her boss, who had sent her thousands of WhatsApp messages and expressed his love for her, an inquest heard.

Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, who died at Larkhill camp in Wiltshire, was concerned Bombardier Ryan Mason had hacked her phone because he seemed to know where she was, the inquest was told.

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Judicial review must be heard on how UK can sell F-35 parts to Israel, judge rules

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Hearing likely in May, seven months after government decided to carve out jet parts from arms export ban

A high court judge has ruled a judicial review must be quickly heard on government claims that national security entitles ministers to sell parts for F-35 jets to Israel even though Britain accepts that there is a risk they will be used in breach of international humanitarian law.

The hearing will most likely take place in May – nearly seven months after the Labour government made the contentious decision to carve out F-35 parts from the ban on arms exports to Israel.

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No 10 accused of trying not to upset French by renaming HMS Agincourt

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Decision to change name of new submarine to HMS Achilles is ‘craven political correctness’, says ex-navy officer

Downing Street has defended the government’s decision to change the name of a new attack submarine from HMS Agincourt to HMS Achilles, after critics accused ministers of trying not to upset the French.

A No 10 spokesperson called the decision to change the planned name of the vessel “appropriate and fitting”, despite criticism that ministers were being “craven”. Officials say the name Achilles had been chosen in part to pay tribute to an earlier ship of the same name.

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Robots, drones and uncrewed vessels ‘likely to be default’ in future Royal Navy

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UK defence chiefs see no need to recruit extra sailors as maritime force will become hybrid with uncrewed systems

The Royal Navy of the future will be dominated by robots, drones and uncrewed vessels, leading chiefs to conclude there is no need to try to recruit extra sailors as part of the forthcoming defence review.

Adm Sir Ben Key, the first sea lord, believes the navy has to focus on recruitment and retention rather than seeking more personnel numbers because crew sizes are inevitably falling as military technology evolves.

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‘Flat packing them’: soldier says SAS described killing Afghans in casual way

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Inquiry hears elite forces had a ‘kill all males on target whether they posed a threat or not’ policy in Afghanistan

Afghans who were killed by members of the SAS in Afghanistan were described dismissively as having been “flat packed” according to revealing testimony given by a former member of the elite force’s sister unit to a public inquiry.

The soldier, known only as N1799, said he had been party to a conversation with a member of the SAS in 2011 who had served in Afghanistan, in which he had been “shocked by the age and methods” used to kill Afghans.

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British army could be wiped out within six months of Ukraine-scale war, minister warns

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Alistair Carns says a casualty rate similar to Russia’s invasion could lead to the army being ‘expended’ within six to 12 months

The British army would be wiped out in as little as six months if it was forced to fight a war on the scale of the Ukraine conflict, a defence minister has warned.

Alistair Carns said a rate of casualties similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the army being “expended” within six to 12 months.

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UFO expert not ruling out Russia or China links to drones seen at RAF bases

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Sightings over three airbases in East Anglia could relate to foreign powers’ concerns about possible nuclear weapons

A British former UFO hunter has said he does not “rule out” recent drone incursions over RAF bases in England being connected to Russia and China and nuclear weapons.

Unidentified drones were spotted in November over three airbases in the east of England that are used by the US air force (USAF).

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Unidentified drones spotted over three UK airbases, US air force confirms

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Unmanned aerial systems seen over RAF bases in Suffolk and Norfolk but US air force does not know if they were hostile

A number of unidentified drones have been spotted over three airbases in Britain, the US air force has confirmed.

“Small unmanned aerial systems” were seen between 20 and 22 November over RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk.

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Ukraine fires UK-made missiles into Russia for first time

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Storm Shadow missile attack comes day after Kyiv used US-supplied long-range weapons to strike within Russia

Ukraine has fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, multiple sources have told the Guardian.

The decision to approve the strikes was made in response to the deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine, which UK and US officials warned was a significant escalation of the near three-year conflict.

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