clipped from: www.timesonline.co.uk BRITISH soldiers on the front line are to be left exposed as the Ministry of Defence axes new spy planes and battlefield intelligence systems to help save £1.5 billion.
A total of five programmes are to be cancelled, cut back or postponed. They range from Nimrod surveillance jets to radio eavesdropping equipment and pilotless drones able to spy on the Taliban and fire missiles at them.
All are seen as vital to replace the ageing systems on which troops in Afghanistan rely for warning of Taliban movements and numbers.
Critics warn that the decision by the MoD to claw back overspending in other areas by slashing intelligence-gathering will lead to the loss of British lives and leave the army almost wholly dependent on the Americans.