Paras ‘axe fears’ as Cummings backs drones
FEARS have emerged for the future of the illustrious Parachute Regiment.
The Paras, one of the world’s most renowned fighting forces, could be put at risk by Government moves to expand special forces and cyber units.
Senior commanders are concerned the elite airborne troops could be sacrificed after discussions in Downing Street.
The Prime Minister’s controversial adviser Dominic Cummings is understood to have questioned why the regiment still exists when it has not parachuted into battle for almost 70 years. The Paras have escaped the axe which has hit many other units in defence reviews. But now some senior figures believe the time has come for the unit to “take its share of the pain”.
The regiment, founded in WW2, is composed of two
regular battalions, the Special Forces Support Group and a reserve battalion. It is feared it may lose a battalion – around 550 men.
The MoD is understood to want to increase the size of the special forces by up to 300 personnel and give more funding to cyber units, such as the 13th Signal Regiment launched last month.
A source said: “There are some very worrying conversations at top levels. There’s a feeling we are living on borrowed time despite what we achieved in Afghanistan and Iraq.” Plans for cuts have been drawn up in response to the Treasury’s diktat for every Whitehall department to slash spending by at least 5 per cent. Cummings and several senior Government ministers believe the days of the UK Armed Forces playing major roles in wars are over.
Instead they argue that more should be spent on special forces, making the UK a world leader in cyber warfare and using more drones in attack and intelligencegathering operations.
However Falklands hero Lord West suggested replacing troops with computers and robots was short-sighted.
He said: “In the final analysis, wars end up killing people and you need killing capability. I’m quite happy to face someone down in a field if I’ve got a machine gun and he’s got a laptop.”