Airman died at the scene after second world war-era plane came down near RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire
The Prince and Princess of Wales have led tributes to an RAF pilot who was killed in a Spitfire crash while taking part in a Battle of Britain memorial event.
The airman, who has not yet been named by police, died at the scene from his injuries after the second world war-era plane came down near RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire at about 1.20pm on Saturday.
Continue reading...Labour lambasts youth policy as ‘desperate and unfunded’ and designed to make youngsters fix government-created problems
Rishi Sunak announced last night that a future Conservative government would bring back mandatory national service last night, as he attempted to reignite his election campaign after an error-strewn start.
Under the plan, which appeared to be his latest attempt to reduce Tory losses by winning over voters drifting to Reform UK, the prime minister said that every 18-year-old would have to spend time in a competitive, full-time military commission or spend one weekend a month volunteering in “civil resilience”.
Continue reading...Plane was part of RAF Battle of Britain memorial flight, which maintains historic aircraft in airworthy condition
A pilot has died after a Spitfire crashed in a field near an RAF base in Lincolnshire, a Royal Air Force spokesperson has confirmed.
“It is with great sadness that we must confirm the death of an RAF pilot in a tragic accident near RAF Coningsby today,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.
Continue reading...Payroll data at risk includes names, bank details and addresses of current and former force members, government sources suggest
An estimated 270,000 payroll records belonging to nearly all members of Britain’s armed forces have been exposed to Chinese hackers in a breach at a third-party contractor that was discovered a few days ago.
The data at risk includes names and bank details for full-time military personnel, part-time reservists, including at least one MP, and veterans who left after January 2018. It was managed by a private contractor, SSCL.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin responds to recent statements from David Cameron and Emmanuel Macron over Ukraine war
Russia has threatened to strike British military facilities and ordered its military to hold battlefield nuclear weapons drills in a move the Kremlin described as a response to comments from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on western troops fighting in Ukraine and from the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, on using British-supplied weapons against Russia.
The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that troops from the southern military district would “practise the issues of preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons … in response to provocative statements and threats by certain western officials against the Russian Federation.”
Continue reading...Johnny Mercer says he will ‘do all I can’ to change rules after veteran turned away from polling station
The veterans minister has apologised to former military personnel who have been prevented from using their veterans ID in order to vote in the local elections in England on Thursday.
Downing Street said it would “look into” changing the controversial new rules, which require photo ID in order to vote, to allow veterans’ ID cards on to the list of valid identification.
Continue reading...Emergency services corden off large area of Darwen while army bomb disposal unit removes and destroys grenade
A town centre in Lancashire was placed in lockdown on Saturday, with British army bomb disposal experts forced to remove and destroy a grenade.
It is understood that a member of the public had donated items to a heritage centre in Darwen which included the grenade.
Continue reading...Risk-filled mission to escort aid from US-built floating pier into combat zone under consideration in defence ministry
Britain’s defence ministry is considering sending troops into Gaza to escort trucks of aid being driven off a giant floating pier built by the US military, a UK defence source has said.
The pier is due to be completed next month in the eastern Mediterranean, and then it will be pushed towards the Gaza shore. But the US president, Joe Biden, has pledged that American forces managing the project will not set foot on land there.
Continue reading...Fighting With Pride charity will lead work for memorial at National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire
The UK’s first memorial commemorating the “lost legion” of LGBT people who have served in the armed forces is to be built at the National Memorial Arboretum.
The memorial will be built after a charity spearheading efforts to get justice for veterans affected by the pre-2000 ban on LGBT people serving in the UK armed forces was awarded a £350,000 grant.
Continue reading...Animals ran through rush-hour streets, colliding with vehicles and leaving four people in hospital
Two of the military horses that broke loose during a morning exercise and bolted through central London on Wednesday are in “serious condition”, a minister has said.
The runaway horses, including one white horse drenched in blood, ran through the rush-hour streets of the capital, colliding with vehicles and resulting in four people being taken to hospital.
Continue reading...Witnesses describe ‘total mayhem’ as horses run through centre of UK capital during rush hour
Four people have been taken to hospital after several military horses broke loose during a morning exercise and bolted through central London, colliding with vehicles.
Astonished witnesses described “total mayhem” as the runaway horses, including one white horse drenched in blood, ran through the rush-hour streets.
Continue reading...PM pledges equipment including 400 vehicles, 1,600 weapons and 4m rounds of ammunition, plus £500m in funding
Rishi Sunak has promised the UK’s largest ever military support package for Ukraine as he warned that Vladimir Putin would “not stop at the Polish border” if Russia won the war.
The prime minister will visit Poland on Tuesday to discuss European security and the threat from Russia with the Polish leader, Donald Tusk, and the Nato secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, before travelling to Germany to meet the chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Continue reading...For the first time, government military spending increased in all five geographical regions, Sipri thinktank finds
Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn (£1970bn) after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report.
The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history.
Continue reading...Lords also press ministers to allow independent Rwanda monitoring as deportation bill returns to Commons
Rishi Sunak’s government is considering concessions on the Rwanda deportation bill to allow exemptions for Afghans who served alongside UK forces, parliamentary sources say.
Ministers are also being pressed to give ground to an amendment to the legislation so that the east African country could be ruled unsafe by a monitoring committee.
Continue reading...Joe Biden is believed to have urged restraint, and Tehran deems the matter ‘concluded’ but ultimately Israel’s response lies in the hands of three prickly rivals in its war cabinet
The prospect of a major regional war in the Middle East hangs in the balance on Sunday morning, when Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet is due to meet to decide Israel’s response to Iran’s drone and missile attack.
Netanyahu’s ministers voted in the middle of the night to delegate that decision to the tiny war cabinet, comprising Netanyahu, defence minister Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, a Netanyahu opponent who joined the government as minister without portfolio after the Hamas 7 October attack, which began the spiral of violence that has brought Israel and Iran to the brink of war.
Continue reading...Whoever wins the next election, a reckoning is overdue on the costs of Britain’s nuclear deterrent
When Rishi Sunak visited Barrow-in-Furness on Monday he said the Cumbrian town was “mission critical for our country” because of its role building four new nuclear submarines to carry the UK’s nuclear weapons. If you believe Sunak’s erstwhile ally, Dominic Cummings, then that mission faces serious problems.
Cummings, once Boris Johnson’s most powerful adviser, said this month – in characteristically aggressive terms – that spiralling costs were making a mockery of the government’s budget plans. He wrote on X: “the nuclear enterprise is so fkd [sic] it’s further cannibalising the broken budgets and will for decades because it’s been highly classified to avoid MPs thinking about it.”
Continue reading...Johnny Mercer given 10 days to reveal source of claims British troops engaged in war crimes
The minister for veterans’ affairs, Johnny Mercer, has been given 10 days to reveal the source of allegations British troops engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan, or face a potential prison sentence.
Mercer in effect admitted last month in front of the public inquiry into the claims that he believed members of the SAS had engaged in dozens of unlawful killings of Afghan civilians between 2010 and 2013.
Continue reading...Survey finds many ex-military personnel fear being misunderstood and are reluctant to seek professional help
More than half of England’s army veterans have experienced mental or physical health issues since returning to civilian life, and some are reluctant to share their experiences, a survey has revealed.
The survey of 4,910 veterans, commissioned jointly by the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA), found that 55% have experienced a health issue potentially related to their service since leaving the armed forces. Over 80% of respondents said their condition had got worse since returning to civilian life.
Continue reading...Prime ministers to examine plans to confiscate billions of euros in interest from frozen Russian assets and send the money to Kyiv
EU leaders are to meet in Brussels to discuss ways to radically increase military and financial support for Ukraine amid calls for member states to put their economies “on a war footing”.
Fuelled by what one diplomat said was a new “sense of urgency and immediacy” over the war in Ukraine, rhetoric on Moscow has notably hardened in the past few days.
Continue reading...Harris had longstanding relationship with ABTSS, later alleged by British prosecutors to have handled or received illegal payments
One of the largest military contractors in the US paid commissions to a Saudi company later alleged to have been a conduit for bribes for the kingdom’s royal family.
A document disclosed in a UK criminal trial revealed that Harris Corporation, now L3Harris, paid commissions to the Saudi company for over two decades for services in the kingdom.
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