RAF is scrambling to find aircraft for Paras to jump from for D-Day 80th commemorations
Grant Shapps has ordered an urgent review and vowed to find more planes for the Normandy event
THE RAF is scrambling to find aircraft for Paras to jump from for D-Day 80th commemorations.
Hundreds of British troops are set to take to the skies over France in Airbus A400M aircraft — but only one is available.
The shortage shows why more cash must be spent on the UK’s Armed Forces, Defence Minister Grant Shapps has declared.
He has ordered an urgent review and yesterday vowed to find more planes for the Normandy event.
He insisted the situation highlighted why the Government is boosting defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
Mr Shapps said: “I’ve no doubt at all we’ll have additional planes there.
“The A400 are being used in operations at the moment.
“It’s one of the reasons why I have argued, and successfully argued, to get £75billion more into our Armed Forces.”
The UK has 22 new A400M aircraft after the Hercules fleet was scrapped last year to save cash.
Former Armed Forces Minister and son of a D-Day veteran Mark Francois blasted the he MoD for doing so, telling The Sun: “The MoD made a major mistake, when they retired the highly reliable C-130 Hercules, for the highly unreliable A400M – and this particular chicken is now coming home to roost.
“It’s a sad mistake, as our heroes who fought that day deserve much better than this.”
The D-Day event, led by the King, will be attended by US President Joe Biden.
The jump is being held the day before the June 6 D-Day anniversary in a nod to the deployment of airborne forces in the early hours ahead of the beach landings.
The King has paid tribute to the fallen on the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy, which heralded D-Day several weeks later.