Pictured above, a Royal Navy Type 26 frigate. A new report argues that the Royal Navy needs to purchase eight new Type 26 submarine frigates on top of the eight already ordered<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s military needs an extra \u00a370bn to make it war-ready, a report has warned.<\/p>\n
A study published by the Centre for a Better Britain, a Right-wing think tank, said the Armed Forces were facing \u201cterrible\u201d shortfalls in equipment and finances after 15 years of underinvestment.<\/p>\n
The paper claimed the country faced \u201ca significant risk of war with a peer power\u201d such as Russia, and that the military \u201crisks catastrophic failure\u201d if gaps are not plugged.<\/p>\n
It argued that at least \u00a37bn would need to be spent on new missile defences to counter the threat of attack posed by drones<\/a> and hypersonic missiles.<\/p>\n The RAF would need an additional \u00a35bn to buy 50 new F-35A stealth jets, which can carry nuclear bombs, to \u201cplug the air defence and offensive strike shortfall\u201d<\/a>, the paper added.<\/p>\n Britain pledged to buy 12 F-35As last June but there are fears this could be cut to save money after the Treasury refused to provide enough cash to fund the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dr Lee Rotherham, the report\u2019s author, accused Rachel Reeves<\/a>, the Chancellor, and her predecessors of adopting a \u201cdangerous routine of trying to bumble through, by bluff and on the cheap\u201d when it came to military spending.<\/p>\n \u201cHoping to scrape through by good luck and the skin of our teeth is not an option. We increasingly run the risk of being called out,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n According to the report, the Royal Navy would need almost \u00a310bn to purchase eight new Type 26 submarine frigates on top of the eight already ordered and 10 additional general-purpose Type 32 frigates in addition to the five being built..<\/p>\n A further \u00a3250m would be needed to expand the Royal Marines\u2019 fighting force alongside \u00a3170m for the Army\u2019s Ranger unit.<\/p>\n The report also calls on additional fleet support ships, minehunters, surveillance planes, missiles and amphibious landing ships to restore Britain\u2019s war-fighting ability.<\/p>\n Sir Julian Lewis, the Conservative New Forest East MP who chaired the defence committee from 2015-2019, said the report\u2019s findings provided \u201ccredible calculations of the expenditure needed to restore our ability to defend ourselves\u201d.<\/p>\n Writing a foreword for the study, Sir Julian said: \u201cMust we wait for the worst to happen before providing the resources we need? Far better to invest in them now, so the war plan need never be implemented.\u201d<\/p>\n The release of the report came just hours after Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> resigned as prime minister, plunging the Government into chaos.<\/p>\n The PM had faced repeated criticism over delays to the DIP, which is almost a year behind schedule. Aeralis, the plane-builder, which called in administrators last month, blamed the chronic delay<\/a> for its financial woes.<\/p>\n Sir Keir\u2019s resignation<\/a> on Monday came a week after John Healey, the former defence secretary, and Al Carns, the former Armed Forces minister, both quit over a lack of money from the Treasury for the DIP.<\/p>\n The financial settlement was due last autumn and was meant to outline what Britain would spend on the military over the next decade but has been stuck in limbo after the Treasury refused to fund it.<\/p>\n Andy Burnham<\/a>, the newly installed MP for Makerfield, is the front-runner to replace Sir Keir in No 10.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear what role Mr Burnham will have in the DIP if he becomes PM. The Government previously said it would be published by the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 7.<\/p>\n