David Hughes, PA Political Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
RAF jets were pulled away from protecting Nato from Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia to bolster efforts to defend Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Typhoon aircraft were redeployed from Romania to take part in the operation to defend against Tehran\u2019s drone and missile barrage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other Nato allies covered for the RAF in eastern Europe, but the decision has once again put the UK\u2019s defence budget under the spotlight with resources stretched around the world\u2019s hotspots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rishi Sunak has committed to increase defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product \u2013 a measure of the size of the economy \u2013 when conditions allow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he is under pressure from the military and senior Tories to go further and faster due to the current level of global insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace told the PA news agency: \u201cThe absurd line, deployed by both political parties that we shall only invest in defence \u2018when economic conditions allow\u2019 have been exposed as a political excuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to invest as the threat determines. Without such investment our security will be at risk and our forces will be stretched.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
David Hughes, PA Political Editor RAF jets were pulled away from protecting Nato from Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia to bolster efforts to defend Israel. The Typhoon aircraft were redeployed from Romania to take part in the operation to defend against Tehran\u2019s drone and missile barrage. Other Nato allies covered for the RAF in eastern Europe, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1500,1501],"tags":[882,1553,1741,1796],"class_list":["post-60967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-news","category-live-news-summary","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-middle-east-crisis","tag-raf"],"yoast_head":"\n