Operation Epic Fury Has Exposed the Catastrophic Gap Between Defence Spending and Defence Capability

The United Kingdom has, depending on the source, the world’s fifth- or sixth-largest defence budget. In the 2024/25 financial year, Britain spent £60.2 billion on defence — approximately $82 billion at current exchange rates — representing 2.3 per cent of GDP. For much of the post-Cold War era, this figure exceeded Russia’s military expenditure. The UK spends significantly more than France, yet consistently receives considerably less in return. The wastage in the UK defence budget has been flagged for decades, alongside a procurement system that is dysfunctional, chronically over-budget, and riddled with institutional inertia. The question that should haunt every British taxpayer is brutally simple: where does the money actually go?

The answer has never been more starkly illustrated than in the opening hours of Operation Epic Fury on 28 February 2026. Israel — ranked among the world’s fifteen largest defence spenders, with military expenditure of approximately $46.5 billion in 2024, some 40 per cent less than Britain’s — deployed approximately 200 fighter jets in the largest combat sortie in Israeli Air Force history. Those aircraft struck over 500 military targets across western and central Iran, delivering more than 1,200 bombs in the first 24 hours. The operation achieved air superiority over Tehran within 700 sorties, neutralised Iran’s air defence architecture, and eliminated the Supreme Leader alongside senior IRGC commanders. An Israeli F-35I recorded the first-ever air-to-air kill by an F-35 against a manned fighter, downing a Russian-made Yak-130 over Tehran. The campaign was preceded by months of strategic deception — senior commanders returning home in unmarked cars on the Friday evening, official vehicles left parked to maintain the satellite imagery of routine, while 200 jets stood armed and ready.

What did Britain manage? Four Typhoons deployed at the request of Qatar, from which a single aircraft shot down one Iranian drone. RAF F-35s from Akrotiri intercepted a handful of Shahed-class drones — after one had already struck a hangar at the base, prompting a partial evacuation and the........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)