{"id":53991,"date":"2024-05-19T10:40:13","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T10:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/19\/urgent-review-as-d-day-parachute-jump-scaled-back-due-to-lack-of-raf-aircraft\/"},"modified":"2024-05-19T10:40:13","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T10:40:13","slug":"urgent-review-as-d-day-parachute-jump-scaled-back-due-to-lack-of-raf-aircraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/19\/urgent-review-as-d-day-parachute-jump-scaled-back-due-to-lack-of-raf-aircraft\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent review as D-Day parachute jump scaled back due to lack of RAF aircraft"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Urgent<\/div>


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Defence chiefs are scrambling to get more planes for a D-Day 80th anniversary parachute drop as crises in Ukraine and the Middle East have left the RAF’s fleet stretched.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of paratroopers were supposed to jump into Normandy<\/a><\/strong> on 5 June to honour the actions of their predecessors in the Second World War, but the plans have been scaled back due to a shortage of aircraft.<\/p>\n

The Mail on Sunday reported<\/a><\/strong> that just a single plane was available but defence sources said they were hopeful at least one more could be found.<\/p>\n

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps<\/a><\/strong> has ordered an urgent review into the matter and said it showed the need for increased spending on the military.<\/p>\n

“This was only brought to me very recently and I certainly do want to see that properly covered,” he told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.<\/p>\n

“I’ve no doubt at all we’ll have additional planes there.<\/p>\n

“It is actually the case that the A400, which is the aircraft we use, are being used in operations at the moment.<\/p>\n

“It’s one of the reasons why I have successfully argued to get \u00a375bn more in cash terms into our armed forces because I think you do need to be doing more of these things.”<\/p>\n

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\n An A400M takes part in a flying display in 2015. Pic: Reuters
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine<\/a><\/strong> is stretching resources by increasing Nato activity, and the RAF’s transport aircraft are also playing a crucial role in dropping aid into Gaza<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Writing in the Daily Mail, former defence minister Tobias Ellwood said the pared-back memorial jump was indicative of the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) new funding strategy.<\/p>\n

“As things stand, the paras’ hopes of putting on a large-scale multi-plane parachute drop has been limited to a single aircraft and just 100 of them jumping out,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The issue demonstrates a sad and simple truth – today’s RAF lacks heavy lift transport capacity after all Hercules transport fleet, which served our nation so well for more than 50 years, was scrapped to save money.”<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
Sir Jim Ratcliffe scolds Tories<\/a><\/strong>
‘Heroes’ chased for \u00a3251m by DWP<\/a><\/strong>
Toddler seriously ill ‘due to mouldy military housing’<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A spokesperson for the MoD said: “D-Day 80 will offer a comprehensive programme of tributes from today’s armed forces to their forebears with a significant amount of activity in both France and the UK, involving thousands of personnel, Royal Air Force flypasts, and Royal Navy vessels.”<\/p>\n

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Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n


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Prime minister begins D-Day commemoration torch relay<\/span>
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Labour MP and former defence minister Kevan Jones called on Mr Shapps to resolve the issue.<\/p>\n

He told the Daily Mail: “Veterans who took part in the historic operation on the blood-soaked Normandy beaches and the Nazi-infested territory beyond it will rightly be furious that 80 years on, the MoD can’t provide enough planes.<\/p>\n

“Grant Shapps should pull his finger out and sort this immediately.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Defence chiefs are scrambling to get more planes for a D-Day 80th anniversary parachute drop as crises in Ukraine and the Middle East have left the RAF’s fleet stretched. Hundreds of paratroopers were supposed to jump into Normandy on 5 June to honour the actions of their predecessors in the Second World War, but the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/05\/768x432\/skynews-airbus-a400m-raf_6559074.jpg?20240519101653","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[1013,51376,1261,1550,6061,47850,910,227,31738,11797],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53993,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53991\/revisions\/53993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}