Closed petition Ensure the Royal Navy does not lose its long-range anti-ship missile capability

Closed on 3 May 2017

The MoD has admitted that the Royal Navy's Harpoon anti-ship missile will go out of service in 2018 with no replacement specified. The shorter range Sea Skua missile also goes out of service, not to be replaced until 2020.

This means the Royal Navy will lack a ship-killing capability for sometime

Rear-Adml Chris Parry, said: "It's a significant capability gap and the Government is being irresponsible. It just shows that our warships are for the shop window and not for fighting."

Lord West of Spithead, a former First Sea Lord, said: “This is just another example of where the lack of money is squeezing and making the nation less safe. We will have this gap of several years without missiles. Well, that’s fine if you don’t have to fight anybody in the meantime.”