THE first shots in the battle to secure the future of the Colchester-based Parachute Regiment have been fired.

The Government is scheduled to hold a strategic defence review after next year’s election, examining how the Armed Forces are set up to face threats against Britain.

Major General Jonathon Shaw, who is Colonel-Commandant of the Parachute Regiment, believes the future of the elite airborne infantry could be threatened.

Writing in the latest issue of Pegasus, the regimental journal, Maj Gen Shaw calls for serving and former Paras to work to secure the future of the unit. “The future of our great regiment is in our hands,” he said.

Ahead of the Government review, all three branches of the military and the units within them are manoeuvring to justify their continued existence.

Johnny Peters, president of the East Anglian branch of the Parachute Regimental Association, said he thought Maj Gen Shaw was “jumping the gun”. “They haven’t even started the review yet and how that goes depends on what happens at the next general election,” he said.

“I do not think the regiment will ever be disbanded, and this is unneccesarily putting the wind up young soldiers.

“The unit is at full capacity and very busy with Afghanistan, but there may be some amalgamation and I can see the regiment thinking more about helicopters than parachutes.”

The regiment was formed during the Second World War and dropped into battle during the D-Day invasion and Operation Market Garden, the failed attempt to shorten the war by capturing river bridges into Germany.

It also played a key role in the recapture of the Falklands from the Argentinians in 1982.