Harriers warning as defence cuts loom

Two former heads of the Royal Navy have warned against scrapping the UK's fleet of Harrier jets.

The Harriers are thought likely to be a high-profile casualty of Wednesday's Comprehensive Spending Review, when the Ministry of Defence is expected to face cuts of around 8 per cent.

But former First Sea Lords Lord West and Sir Jonathon Band warned that this would mean Britain had no jet capable of launching from its aircraft carrier fleet until the new Joint Strike fighters enter service in 2018.

There are reports that the Navy will lose its Harriers after losing a battle with the RAF, which will keep its fleet of land-based Tornados.

Admiral West, who served as security minister in Gordon Brown's administration, said it would be "nonsensical" to scrap the Harriers before the Joint Strike Fighters were ready to replace them

He said: "It sounds as though the decision has been made to go towards a cut in the Harriers. That is very risky. Let's say they go in two years. If in three years, God forbid, the Falklands go because the Argentinians decide to invade, it would be absolutely, totally impossible for this country - even if we had an Army of 10 million - to go and do anything about it."

And Admiral Band said: "It would remove at a stroke one of our classic reaction capabilities for any emergency scenario."