They have a reputation for daring and courage – seeing heroic action in Normandy, Arnhem, the Falklands and Afghanistan.

But the future of the legendary ‘Paras’ could be under threat from cost-cutting measures, which astonishingly include being forced to ditch their parachutes, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Instead of leaping out of RAF transport planes, the elite Parachute Regiment would deploy to frontline action in helicopters.

The plans – apparently dreamt up by RAF chiefs to save money – were last night branded ‘strategic and operational madness’.

Tobias Ellwood, a former Tory Defence Minister, said: ‘No aircraft means no training, no mass jumps, no airborne infantry – the slow death of the most elite line regiment in the British Army.

‘With increasing global uncertainty, this is not the way to prepare for possible war.’

He also suggested that RAF chiefs’ real motive for asking for the cuts was because the huge A400M transport planes – which have replaced the smaller C-130 Hercules aircraft – were not suited to parachute drops.

However, that was disputed by one former paratrooper, who insisted the new aircraft were ‘cleared for parachuting last year’.

The hugely controversial cut-back is understood to have been proposed as part of the Government’s long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP).

That plan, originally due for publication last autumn, has still not been published amid warnings that the Ministry of Defence is short of billions of pounds over the next four years. 

A source said the RAF had asked for the Paras to no longer jump from its A400M planes on the grounds that there are simply not enough of the aircraft.

Last night, one former senior Parachute Regiment officer said: ‘While technically, you can parachute from a ‘copter, in practice you wouldn’t want to.

‘Combat troop-carrying helicopters often fly low to evade radar and, critically, they do not have the capacity or the flying endurance that the A400M offers to lift large numbers of paratroopers.

‘In effect, this cut-back would ground the Parachute Regiment and rule out any future mass parachute drop by British forces.’

Axing parachuting would allegedly save the RAF more than £15 million a year as it would no longer have to provide the ‘chutes’ and specialist training of pilots and aircrew, as well as the training of paratroopers.

The A400Ms are said to be in constant demand flying to the Falklands, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Poland, Estonia, USA, Australia, Kenya, Oman, Jordan and Norway.

It is not the first time the Paras – whose motto is Utrinque Paratus (Ready for Anything) – have been caught in a row about lack of planes. 

Ahead of the D-Day commemorations in 2024, this newspaper revealed how a mass parachute drop over Normandy was under threat after the RAF was allocated just one A400M.

It went ahead after then Defence Secretary Grant Shapps intervened to get more aircraft.

An MoD spokesman added: ‘The DIP will set out the MoD’s plans to ensure resources are directed effectively to meet its priorities and deliver value for taxpayers.’