𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Salami-slicing Britain’s defence budget and capabilities will leave Vladimir Putin laughing… and the UK weaker. After months of repeated delays, it appears the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP) is finally imminent.

The document, outlining plans to fund the ambitions set out in last year’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), is expected to be released in the coming days. Yet we are already hearing murmurings of potential cutbacks to help fill a reported £28 billion gaping black hole in the defence budget… sigh, here we go again. Most notably, F-35As appear to be in the firing line — just under 12 months since the Government championed its plans to purchase the stealth fighter jets as a “major boost for national security”.

But the F-35As aren’t just any aircraft; they are the answer to a “critical gap” in Britain’s deterrence and arsenal, as nuclear weapons expert and former Army officer Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told me.

The F-35As are capable of dropping US-made tactical nuclear bombs — a capability we currently do not have.

Experts have long warned that without the weapons, the UK lacks an “escalation ladder” to respond to nuclear threats, especially as they are part of Russia’s vast nuclear arsenal.

As it stands, our nuclear deterrence starts and ends with our Trident missiles.

These ballistic missiles are strategic weapons based on the concept of mutually assured destruction, capable of levelling a city.

Tactical nukes, meanwhile, such as the B61-12 gravity bombs that can be fired by F-35As, are smaller — yet still devastating — and could flatten an airfield or formation.

Mr de Bretton-Gordon warned abandoning the F-35A plans could embolden Mr Putin and leave Britain increasingly vulnerable.

He added: “It’s an indication of intent and at this very moment, it’s the wrong thing to be showing the Russians that we are looking to scale back our military capability.”

No final decision has been made over the F-35As — which cost around £80 million per aircraft — and other options are under consideration, according to The Telegraph.

Nobody will deny Labour was given a tough hand on defence when coming into power — a hollowed-out military after decades of successive cuts, the turbulent Trump administration, economic uncertainty… the list goes on.

But almost any defence commentator will argue this hand has not been played well.

The DIP delays, amid a funding tussle between the MoD and Treasury, have become a soap opera and have had a searing effect on our defence manufacturers.

The reality is the expected £18 billion uplift for defence simply won’t be enough.

Those in defence know it and so will Mr Putin.

He will be in the Kremlin chuckling away that Britain’s F-35A plans could be on the brink, less than a year after Sir Keir heralded the 12 jets as a “new era” for deterring hostile threats.