Grant Shapps’s jet left ‘defenceless’ after ministers baulked at cost of protective systems
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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 did not have kit such as anti-missile jammers, jam-proof communications or military-standard aircraft electronics.
The Dassault Falcon 900LX 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 an 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.
The Times 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 government jets to fit them with the equipment, which is expected to cost around £150 million.
A defence source said the extra defensive measures were needed because “it is a more dangerous world than just a few years ago” when the planes were bought.
Mr Wallace defended his decision on Friday, telling The Times that diverting millions from other programmes to pay for the upgrades would have been “a vanity project”.
“The RAF is already overspent. I didn’t add the suite of extras because it would have meant taking millions away from military programs to spend on a vanity project,” he told the paper.
“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.”
Retired to save money
Ministers were previously flown around in BAE 146 aircraft, which had defensive systems. The planes were retired to save money following a 2021 defence review.
Tim Ripley, editor of the news website Defence Eye, said the decision not to fit the new jets with defensive equipment meant they were “vulnerable to surprise attack”.
“These critical aircraft, which are used to fly members of the Royal family, government ministers and service chiefs on high-profile missions, are effectively defenceless until protection systems are fitted,” he added.
Defence sources have played down the risk from the jamming attack on Mr Shapps’s plane and said it was unlikely the Defence Secretary was specifically targeted.
Russia engages in regular jamming around its borders including in Kaliningrad, they said, and the pilots were able to use other means to determine the plane’s location.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: “As announced in 2022, the Envoy aircraft are being upgraded to full military and operational capability.
“It’s not unusual for aircraft to experience GPS jamming near Kaliningrad and at no time was the safety of the aircraft threatened.”
