Military news

• ‘Virtually intact’ wreck off Scotland believed to be Royal Navy warship torpedoed in first world war

  17-08-2024 19:49
  
  Diving team believe deep North Sea find is long-lost HMS Hawke, sunk by German U-boat 110 years agoA team of UK divers has hailed the discovery of a wreck off Scotland believed to be a Royal Navy warship sunk during the first world war but still “virtually intact”.The team found what it thinks is HMS Hawke – which sank after being hit by a German torpedo in October 1914 – in the North Sea earlier this week. Continue reading...
  
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• British forces involved in defending Israel from Iranian attack, says Healey

  02-10-2024 09:24
  
  Defence secretary says UK military ‘played part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East’Middle East crisis – latest news updatesBritish forces were involved in thwarting Iran’s missile attack against Israel, the UK’s defence secretary has suggested.In a carefully worded statement on Tuesday night, John Healey said: “British forces have this evening played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East.” Conti
  
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• Badenoch says 10% of civil servants are ‘very bad’ and jokes they are ‘should be in prison bad’ – as it happened

  01-10-2024 19:58
  
  This live blog is closedPopular Conservatism, or PopCon, has released the results of a survey of party members suggesting more than half of them favour a merger with Reform UK. Some 30% of the respondents said they tended to support the idea, and 23% were strongly in favour. The survey covered 470 members.Annunziata Rees-Mogg, PopCon’s head of communications and a former Brexit party MEP, said:Every Conservative activist and canvasser knows people who had been Tories, but voted Reform UK i
  
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• Tugendhat condemns Tory rival over claim UK special forces ‘kill rather than capture terrorists’

  01-10-2024 10:12
  
  Party leadership contender says Robert Jenrick’s remarks show ‘fundamental misunderstanding’ of law of warThe former UK security minister Tom Tugendhat has criticised the claim by one of his Conservative leadership rivals that UK special forces are “killing rather than capturing” terrorism suspects, saying the comment showed a “fundamental misunderstanding” of the law of war.Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, defended his claim on Tuesday,
  
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• Former human rights lawyer admits fraud over Iraq war claims

  01-10-2024 09:14
  Phil Shiner sought up to £200,000 of legal aid funding to represent clients including Khuder Al-SweadyThe former human rights lawyer Phil Shiner has pleaded guilty to fraud charges linked to claims made against Iraq war veterans.Shiner, 67, appeared at Southwark crown court on Monday and pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA). He will be sentenced on 2 December. Continue reading...
  
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• British army to investigate conduct of troops in Kenya amid rape and murder claims

  27-09-2024 20:46
  
  Defence secretary to meet family of woman allegedly killed by soldier, as ITV airs documentary alleging fresh abusesThe army is to launch an inquiry into the behaviour of British troops posted to a military base in Kenya, after multiple allegations of serious abuses committed by soldiers, including rape and murder.The inquiry is to examine the conduct of military personnel posted to the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK). It is where the soldier alleged to have murdered a Kenyan woman, Agn
  
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• US-UK airstrikes have not seriously hurt Houthis’ capability, says Yemeni leader

  24-09-2024 12:21
  Yemen government vice-chair fears strikes intended to end shipping chaos are instead helping Houthis rally supportUS-UK airstrikes in Yemen designed to end the Houthi disruption of commercial shipping have not seriously degraded the group’s military capability, the vice-chair of the UN-recognised government in Yemen has said.Aidarous al-Zubaidi told the Guardian in an interview he feared the Houthis were using the strikes to rally support behind their cause by portraying the west as the ag
  
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• Ex-defence secretary Wallace ‘was advised against inquiry into SAS executions allegations’

  23-09-2024 22:59
  Top civil servant tried to persuade ex-defence secretary not to commission inquiry into UK military actions in Afghanistan, inquiry hearsThe former defence secretary Ben Wallace was advised by his permanent secretary that a public inquiry into allegations of SAS executions in Afghanistan would be “expensive, unproductive and extremely bad” for the reputation of the British military.Sir Stephen Lovegrove tried to persuade Wallace not to commission formal hearings in August 2020, feari
  
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• Labour conference: No 10 braced for potential defeat on winter fuel allowance vote as trade unions set to back motion – as it happened

  22-09-2024 20:45
  Unison and GMB understood to be likely to back motion to reverse policyStarmer vows to protect public services from fresh austerityLabour heads to conference in a spinInterview: Starmer defends his recordLabour has made no contact with other parties over new talks to resolve England’s social care crisis, amid fresh demands for a workable plan that secures cross-party support, Michael Savage reports.Labour is today announcing plans for what it describes as “planning passports” t
  
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• Parachute drop near Arnhem marks 80 years since Operation Market Garden

  21-09-2024 14:49
  Airborne units from eight Nato nations participate in commemoration of ill-fated second world war manoeuvreEighty years after thousands of allied airborne troops parachuted into the Nazi-occupied Netherlands in a daring military offensive, their modern counterparts have made the same jump.Paratroopers from eight Nato-member countries, including the UK, US, Portugal and Spain, parachuted from 12 aircraft into Ginkel Heath, a nature reserve near the Dutch town of Ede, on Saturday. Continue reading
  
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• Billionaire Guy Hands’ property firm takes housing reforms to European court

  19-09-2024 12:03
  
  Annington Property fears recent legislation could potentially affect
  the value of some of the 38,000 UK military homes it holdsA property company linked to the billionaire Guy Hands has taken a legal fight with the UK government to the European court of human rights over fears it could lose significant sums as a result of planned housing reforms.Annington Property, which is an intermediate leaseholder and has a 999-year lease on about 38,000 military homes, has filed the claim against the housin
  
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• With Two Nuclear-Armed Strategic Competitors, US Modernization Top Priority

  19-09-2024 03:28 via defencetalk.com
  
  DefenceTalk“The security environment we face today is unprecedented,” said Melissa Dalton, undersecretary of the Air Force. “We face for the first time in our nation’s history, two strategic competitors that are nuclear states with large and growing nuclear arsenals. When we look at the [People’s Republic of China] and its breathtaking modernization over the last […]https://www.defencetalk.com/with-two-nuclear-armed-strategic-competitors-us-modernization-top-
  
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• British army major general dismissed for unwanted advances in karaoke bar

  05-09-2024 23:35
  Maj Gen James Roddis admitted indecent behaviour after drunkenly touching and kissing woman against her willA major general who drunkenly touched and kissed a woman in a karaoke bar after she indicated she wanted him to stop has been dismissed from the army and given a six-month suspended prison sentence by a court martial board for his indecent behaviour.Maj Gen James Roddis, 53, was leading a military delegation overseas when he made his unwanted advances, with the early part of the incident c
  
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• Royal Navy member dies after Merlin helicopter crashes into Channel

  05-09-2024 16:20
  Two others rescued after incident during training with HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier off Dorset coastA member of the Royal Navy has died after a Merlin Mk4 helicopter crashed in the Channel off the coast of Dorset during a night-flying exercise.Two other crew members were rescued after the crash, which took place during training with the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. Continue reading...
  
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• Civil servant who lost secret MoD files will advise on UK defence policy

  01-09-2024 18:35
  
  Angus Lapsley, whose mislaid papers were found at a bus stop, will join review team led by George RobertsonA civil servant who mislaid classified Ministry of Defence papers that were later found at a bus stop in Kent has been selected to advise on the government’s defence policy review.Angus Lapsley, Nato’s assistant secretary general for defence policy and planning, will join a team headed by George Robertson, a former Nato secretary general and former defence secretary, along with
  
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• Starmer cancels appointment of Gwyn Jenkins as national security adviser

  26-08-2024 18:00
  
  Exclusive: PM’s decision seen by some in Whitehall as precursor for role going to more politically loyal candidateKeir Starmer has cancelled the appointment of one of Britain’s top generals as the national security adviser, in a move that senior civil servants fear is designed to pave the way for a more politically loyal candidate.The prime minister has overturned the decision made in April by his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, to appoint Gwyn Jenkins, then the vice-chief of the armed for
  
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• Experts asked to assess strategic threat to UK as part of defence review

  26-08-2024 15:00
  Former Nato chief George Robertson sends 24-page survey to specialists asking for ideas on capability and fundingMembers of the armed forces and government departments, manufacturers and academics have been asked to assess the strategic threat to the UK up to 2050 as part of the government’s root-and-branch review of defence policy.George Robertson, a former Nato secretary general and defence secretary in Tony Blair’s first government, has written to dozens of interested parties with
  
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• Experts carry out controlled explosion on WW2 German bomb in County Down

  20-08-2024 20:30
  More than 400 homes evacuated before 500kg bomb was blown up, decades after it was dropped by LuftwaffePolice and army experts have carried out a controlled explosion on a second world war bomb discovered in Newtownards, County Down, more than 80 years after it was dropped from a German plane.A plume of smoke rose over the Northern Irish town on Tuesday after a loud bang at 3.38pm signalled the destruction of the 500kg (1,100lb) bomb. Continue reading...
  
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• Racism in the army: the soldier who took the UK military to court - podcast

  20-08-2024 04:00
  
  Former soldier Kerry-Ann Knight describes the sexism and racism she faced in the British military, and how she went from being the face of an army recruitment drive to a painful employment tribunalIn 2019, Kerry-Ann Knight was the face of a British army recruitment drive, which read: ‘Me Me Me Millennials. Your Army Needs You and Your Self Belief.’It was part of the military’s efforts to enlist a more diverse set of recruits, but, as Kerry-Ann tells Hannah Moore, behind the sce
  
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• UK launches its first Earth-imaging military satellite

  17-08-2024 13:47
  
  Satellite named Tyche to support armed forces operations as well as monitor natural disasters and impact of climate changeThe UK has launched its first military satellite able to capture daytime images and videos of the Earth’s surface.The satellite, named Tyche, will support British armed forces operations as well as monitor natural disasters, help map information development and track the impact of climate change globally, the Ministry of Defence said. Continue reading...
  
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• MI5’s posthumous discovery of Stakeknife files alarms inquiry chief

  07-08-2024 19:00
  
  Release of intelligence year after death ‘casts doubt’ on security service’s previous claims about British spy in IRA accused of murdersThe police chief investigating murders allegedly carried out by Freddie Scappaticci, a British agent in the IRA known as Stakeknife, has expressed alarm that hundreds of pages of files providing “new investigative leads” have been found by MI5 a year after Scappaticci’s death.Sir Iain Thomas Livingstone, a former head of Polic
  
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• North York Moors flight isn’t an ultra-rich person’s buzz | Letters

  06-08-2024 19:11
  Readers respond to letters about the super-rich, one of which complained about a plane plaguing a national parkRichard Coleman says the North York Moors are “plagued by a small aircraft performing aerial stunts … loitering and polluting the air for one person’s pleasure” (Letters, 30 July). While I am sure that No 11 Air Experience Flight based at RAF Leeming would wish to apologise for the annoyance caused by the buzz of their engines, they would also wish to assure him
  
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• Face of British army recruitment drive wins payout for racist and sexist abuse

  02-08-2024 14:00
  Kerry-Ann Knight hoped to pave way for Black women but was instead subjected to 12 years of abuseA former soldier who appeared on recruitment posters for the British army has received a settlement and an apology after taking it to an employment tribunal over the racist and sexist abuse she was subjected to during her career.While still in training, Kerry-Ann Knight was pictured on a recruitment poster above the words “Your army needs you and your self-belief”, confidently looking ove
  
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• ‘Axis of upheaval’ adds urgency to review of UK defence spending

  30-07-2024 06:00
  Deepening military and trade links between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are making western powers uneasyGen Roly Walker, the head of the British army, has described it as the “axis of upheaval”. George Robertson, the new head of the UK’s defence review, has called the countries the “deadly quartet”. Either way, less than a month into a Labour government, an emerging geopolitical alignment is being highlighted as a threat.The concerns centre on the growing mil
  
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• North Korea-backed cyber espionage campaign targets UK military

  25-07-2024 19:19
  
  National Cyber Security Centre warns of global hacking effort to obtain nuclear and defence intelligenceNorth Korean state-backed hackers have mounted a campaign to obtain secrets related to nuclear materials, military drones, submarines and shipbuilding in the UK and US, as intelligence agencies warned of a “global cyber-espionage campaign” targeting sensitive industries.A joint notice from the US, UK and South Korea warned that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)
  
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• Former MP Johnny Mercer avoids threat of jail over SAS inquiry – for now

  25-07-2024 18:26
  
  Judge lifts threat ‘for the time being’ after ex-minister withheld names from inquiry into misconduct claimsJohnny Mercer no longer faces the threat of jail for refusing to cooperate with a public inquiry examining allegations of unlawful killings by the SAS in Afghanistan, after its presiding judge said he would back down for now.The former Conservative MP and minister had repeatedly refused to provide the names of two military sources in confidence to the inquiry judge, Charles Had
  
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• Army chief says UK must double its lethality or be prepared for war in 2027

  23-07-2024 20:06
  
  Gen Sir Roly Walker says west faces ‘axis of upheaval’ with increasing threats from Russia, China and IranBritain must be prepared to fight a war in three years’ time and double the lethality of its army as the separate threats of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea come to a head, the new chief of the army has warned.Gen Sir Roly Walker, the chief of the general staff, told reporters that the west faced “an axis of upheaval” with increasing military ambition and th
  
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• British defence chief vows to triple fighting power but shies away from conscription

  23-07-2024 13:05
  
  Adm Sir Tony Radakin says British army could justify extra investment if its effectiveness improvesBritain’s most senior military officer has promised the army will double its lethality in three years, but backed away from the idea of endorsing conscription in his first speech following the general election.Adm Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of defence staff, said that the British army could justify extra investment if its effectiveness improved, though he stopped short of asking for more mon
  
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• Prince Harry hails Birmingham’s winning bid to host Invictus Games

  23-07-2024 01:01
  
  Duke – and perhaps Duchess – of Sussex expected to attend event in 2027, held in UK for first time since inaugural gamesThe Duke of Sussex has congratulated the city of Birmingham on winning the bid to host the Invictus Games in 2027.It will be the first time the games, founded by Prince Harry for wounded, injured and sick military personnel and veterans, are staged in the UK since the inaugural event in London in 2014. Continue reading...
  
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• Britain’s defence policy rests on unity in an increasingly divided world | Letters

  21-07-2024 18:23
  
  Readers on the UK’s defence and security review after the expert leading it identified a ‘deadly quartet’ of adversariesRegarding your article (UK and its allies face ‘deadly quartet’ of nations, says defence expert, 16 July), the new government’s strategic defence and security review must promote a maritime defence strategy. Britain and global partners are threatened by the aggression of Russia, North Korea, Iran and proxies – China too, sadly
  
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