The Defence Secretary has insisted the Royal Marines will receive the support they need as he defended the decision to decommission two assault ships.
Conservative MP for South West Devon, Rebecca Smith asked at defence questions in the House of Commons on Monday (January 6): “We have long-standing, cross-party support in Plymouth and Devon to ensure the future of the Royal Marines, including 42 Commando in my constituency.
“Given the amphibious assault capability gap we have as a result of scrapping, or should I say retiring, Devonport ships HMS Albion and Bulwark, what commitment can the Secretary of State make that the six multi-role support ships will be given the green light to be built and can he give a firm indication as to when he hopes they will be in service?”
Defence Secretary John Healey replied: “HMS Bulwark and Albion were not genuine capabilities. The defence procurement and industry minister (Maria Eagle) has made that clear – neither of these ships were set to be put to sea again before their out of service date.
“This allows us to focus resources where it needs to be on the capabilities we need to support our marines and deal with our adversaries.”
Mr Healey had earlier told the Commons that the UK will lead an operation to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure and monitor the Russian shadow fleet. Vessels entering areas of interest will be assessed by the system and if a potential risk is reported, the system will monitor the vessel in real time and immediately warn Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) members and Nato allies.
The reaction system, named Nordic Warden, comes after a power cable, which transmits energy from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, was reportedly damaged on Christmas Day.
Mr Healey said: “Russian aggression is not simply confined to Ukraine, and we all saw what happened on Christmas Day. We are deeply concerned about the damage and sabotage to undersea cables.
“And I can confirm to the House that for the first time, the Joint Expeditionary Force, the JEF, has activated an advanced UK-led reaction system to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure and to monitor the movements of the Russian shadow fleet.”
Labour MP for Huddersfield, Harpreet Uppal, had asked: “Following the reported damage to a major undersea cable in the Baltic over Christmas, which Finnish authorities suggest may be indeed linked to a shadow fleet vessel, what further actions is the UK taking alongside European allies to undermine the Russian shadow fleet?”
Specific vessels identified as being part of Russia’s shadow fleet have been registered in the system so they can be closely monitored when approaching key areas, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. Artificial intelligence will be used to assess data from a range of sources, including the Automatic Identification System (AIS) ships use to broadcast their position.
There are 22 areas of interest, including parts of the English Channel, North Sea, Kattegat and Baltic Sea, being monitored. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “I am pleased we are launching this cutting-edge technology so soon.”
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