Britain 'will remain a military power' - but Cameron prepares to scrap Harriers and Ark Royal

The Prime Minister admitted that some "difficult" decisions had been made in preparation for the Strategic Defence and Security Review as he addressed staff at the operations headquarters for the armed forces.

"Yes, some difficult decisions have been made but at the end of the day, we will be an absolutely front rank military power with full capability in all the services, and we will be able, I think, to point to some really important pieces of equipment and capability that we will have," he told staff at the Permanent Joint Headquarters in north west London.

Mr Cameron faced some tough questions from staff gathered to hear him at the headquarters, where staff provide a round-the-clock support service to thousands of troops stationed around the world.

The Prime Minister is set to announce that the Royal Navy's flagship HMS Ark Royal and her fleet of Harrier jets are to be scrapped immediately when he unveils the defence review later today.

One Harrier jet pilot, Royal Navy Lieutenant Commander Kris Ward, 37, said: "I am a Harrier pilot and I have flown 140 odd missions in Afghanistan, and I am now potentially facing unemployment. How am I supposed to feel about that, please, sir?"

Mr Cameron thanked Lt Cdr Ward for "everything" he had done for his country.

"We do have to make decisions for the future and there have been long discussions about this in the National Security Council," he said.

"I have listened to all the military advice, and the military advice is pretty clear that when we have to make difficult decisions, it is right to keep the Typhoon as our principal ground attack aircraft, working in Afghanistan at the moment, and it is right to retire the Harrier."

Another member of the staff also questioned Mr Cameron about the use of aircraft carriers under the terms of the review.

"If we are punching above our weight why are we spending billions on aircraft carriers just so that US and French aircraft can take off and not UK fighters?" he said.

Mr Cameron insisted "they will have UK fighters on them" - to the response of "not for 10 years sir" from the member of staff.

The Prime Minister continued: "The right decision for the long term is to have the carrier, to have the right sort of joint strike fighter inter-operable with the French and the Americans so you have that strike capability for the future," Mr Cameron said.

He said he accepted that left a gap for a number of years where there was not "carrier strike capability" but there was still the capability of projecting air power, he said.

Mr Cameron visited the control room of the PJHQ and chatted to staff responsible for back-up support to commanders in field in Afghanistan.

He also received a private briefing from the commander of joint operations, Air Marshal Sir Stuart Peach.

Mr Cameron expressed his "heartfelt" thanks to staff for their work, saying the SDSR had been an "incredibly difficult" piece of work.

"Defence is the first duty of any government and it is a duty, as Prime Minister, that I take incredibly seriously," he told them.

"Most important of all, we will make sure that Britain is well defended and we have a set of armed forces that actually are fit for the modern world," he said.

Speaking after the question and answer session, Lt Cdr Ward said: "I understand that cuts have to be made, but I am not sure that these are the right cuts."

In 1973 Ark Royal was awarded the Freedom of Leeds, at a ceremony attended by the Queen Mother. The ship's company has marched through the city every couple of years since.

Cllr Keith Wakefield, leader of Leeds City Council, said: "Leeds and Ark Royal have enjoyed the closest of connections since the city "adopted" the vessel a week before it was torpedoed and sunk in 1941. The ordinary people of the city threw their weight behind a mammoth effort to fund its replacement.

"They did the city and the country incredibly proud by raising an astounding 9 million and our relationship has gone from strength to strength ever since."