MoD left Shapps’ jet ‘defenceless’ over cost

THE jet which had its GPS jammed by Russia while carrying Grant Shapps home from Poland was not fitted with protective systems after ministers baulked at the cost.

Military experts said the plane was effectively “defenceless” because it does not have kit such as anti-missile jammers, jam-proof communications or military-standard aircraft electronics.

The Dassault 900LX Falcon was passing Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania, on Wednesday morning when the pilots lost access to the GPS. Mr Shapps, the Defence Secretary, was on board as he returned to Britain from a visit to Poland where he watched British troops taking part in a large Nato exercise.

Now it has emerged that ministers chose not to pay for state-of-the-art defensive systems to be fitted to the plane – one of a pair – when they ordered it in 2021. reported that Ben Wallace, then defence secretary, made the decision to order the basic model so that money could be prioritised elsewhere in the RAF.

Ministers have since ordered a security upgrade for both jets, which is expected to cost around £150 million.

A defence source said the extra defensive measures were now needed because “it is a more dangerous world” than when the planes were bought.

Mr Wallace defended his decision yesterday, telling “The RAF is already overspent. I didn’t add the suite of extras because it would have meant taking millions away from military programmes to spend on a vanity project.”

He added: “The planes are never going to fly to hostile areas and if ministers need to then they switch to military lift. There are many more military platforms that need protection than a VIP jet. This is completely the wrong priority.”

Ministers were previously flown in BAE 146 aircraft, which had defensive systems but were retired to save money. Tim Ripley, editor of the news website Defence Eye, said the lack of defensive equipment meant the jets were “vulnerable to surprise attack”.

Defence sources have played down the risk from the jamming attack on Mr Shapps’ plane and said it was unlikely he was specifically targeted. Russia engages in regular jamming around its borders, they said, and the pilots were able to use other means to determine the plane’s location.