Troops Get Copters But RAF Station 'To Close'

The Government has promised 22 new Chinook helicopters for the military, amid reports that RAF Cottesmore faces closure.
The copters are being bought to increase air support on the front line in Afghanistan.

They will cost £1bn over the next 10 years but the first will not be completed until 2013.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth is to outline in the House of Commons where savings will be made to pay for the new aircraft.

It is understood RAF Cottesmore in Rutland will close once the remaining Harrier jets are moved to RAF Wittering, near Peterborough.

The Ministry of Defence needs to trim £1.5bn over the next three years to keep within budget.


The first [Chinooks] won't come into operation until 2013, so that means the MoD is looking at the whole operation in Afghanistan as very, very long term.

Sky's Defence correspondent Geoff Meade

On Monday, Gordon Brown pledged £150m to tackle roadside bombs and more money for mine detectors to protect soldiers in Afghanistan.

Today, Mr Ainsworth is expected to announce a reduction in staff - with 10,000 Armed Forces and MoD office jobs set to go.

The ageing Nimrod surveillance aircraft is likely to be phased out early and the Navy can expect to lose a survey ship and a minesweeper.

Sky's Defence correspondent Geoff Meade said the cuts meant more could be spent on the fight in Afghanistan.

"It seems never before has new equipment for an ongoing campaign been bought, effectively, at the cost of doing away with existing armaments," he said. "That's effectively what this will mean.

"The 22 badly-needed Chinooks - these have proved to be the workhorse of the campaign in southern Afghanistan and commanders say they've never had enough of them.



The first of 500 extra British troops to be deployed to Afghanistan arrive



"But look at the timescale... the first ones won't come into operation until 2013, so that means the MoD is looking at the whole operation in Afghanistan as very, very long term.

"It doesn't dovetail with President Obama's timeframe of a 2011 withdrawal. The MoD is clearly looking at a much longer engagement in Afghanistan."

Conservative leader David Cameron described the emergency defence measures as "utterly shambolic".

The announcements come as the first of 500 extra British troops to be deployed to Afghanistan arrived in the country.

Soldiers from The 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) landed at Camp Bastion in Helmand on a C-130 Hercules aircraft.

The servicemen will go through in-theatre training before joining troops on the ground.

Back in the UK, the body of the 100th soldier to die in Afghanistan this year has arrived home.

A plane carrying Lance Corporal Adam Drane arrived at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.

The 23-year-old, who served in the First Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, was shot dead in Helmand province last week.

Source:news.sky.com/