British Parliamentary Report Shows RAF Weakness Against Russian Air Force

Great Britain lags behind Russia and its allies in the number of combat aircraft

The number of Royal Air Force combat aircraft is so small that they would be destroyed by “attrition” if Britain entered into a military conflict against Russia, which is said to have more than 20 times as many aircraft and a smaller British air force. than those of its European allies.

The Royal Air Force’s fleet of combat aircraft is so small that it would be destroyed if Britain went to war against Russia, according to a parliamentary report emerging in London. According to the Daily Mail, the Royal Air Force has so few Typhoon jets and F-35s that its fleet would not be able to withstand the “level of attrition” that would occur.

The UK, according to published data, has just 169 front-line aircraft to Russia’s 3,500, and after repeated cuts since the end of the Cold War, the British military aircraft fleet is also smaller than that of London’s European allies. According to an analysis by the Defense Select Committee, France has 231 combat aircraft, Germany 214 and Italy 199. More recently, in 1990, the UK had 463, writes the Daily Mail.

The Royal Air Force says the complexity of its aircraft makes up for the fact that it has fewer of them. But a parliamentary report said the UK was “dangerously vulnerable” and added: “The combat aircraft fleet is exceptionally capable, [но] it lacks numbers and insufficient reserves. In a peer-to-peer conflict, such as the war with Russia, every fuselage will matter. The government’s plans will create a gap in air capability that current plans suggest will persist well into the 2030s. This is unacceptable. The Ministry of Defense and the Royal Air Force must urgently consider how they can increase combat air capacity.”

Despite the aircraft shortage, the Royal Air Force intends to retire 30 of its Typhoons five years ahead of schedule in 2025 rather than modernize them. This decision was questioned by members of parliament, writes the Daily Mail.

The cash-strapped British Ministry of Defense is also in no hurry to replenish its stock of F-35B stealth aircraft. At the moment, 31 of them have entered service. This number is due to rise to 48 by 2025, and MPs expect the UK to end up with 74, rather than the 138 originally planned.

Most of the jets are not yet in service because of confusion within the Royal Air Force over how much ground crew is needed to maintain them, British MPs said.

The special report said: “The failure of the Royal Air Force to correctly estimate the number of technicians required to maintain the aircraft is inexcusable.” The report, writes the Daily Mail, concluded that the Royal Air Force was “devastated” and “too small to meet the growing challenges it faces.”

The Defense Select Committee has used a new report to call on the UK Ministry of Defense to reverse its decision to cut spending on its surveillance aircraft order to three aircraft instead of five, condemning cuts to the E-7A Wedgetail fleet as “irrational”.

MPs also slammed the early retirement of the high-performance military transport aircraft – again to cut costs – saying the move left UK special forces unprotected by the unique capabilities the C-130J could provide.