Concern over changes made to MoD aircraft plans
Summary
The National Audit Office (NAO) has expressed deep concern about risks to the delivery of aircraft equipment since the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR).
The changes outlined in the SDSR affect the aircraft carrier and associated Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft project, as detailed in the report 'Carrier Strike: Ministry of Defence’ (HC 1092).
The report details how the Ministry of Defence (MOD) would build two carriers but operate only one, pending the next SDSR. This ship will be converted, using catapults and arrestor gear, to fly a different, more capable, version of the JSF to the one previously planned. This carrier will be available at sea only for an average of 150-200 days each year and fewer of the aircraft will operate from the carrier initially.
The introduction of Carrier Strike will be delayed by two years, to 2020. Given the decision to retire the Harrier aircraft and the existing aircraft carrier immediately, there will be a decade-long gap without aircraft carrier capability.
The changes will save some £3.4 billion over ten years.
The NAO highlights the complex inter-relationship between the various cost, short-term affordability, military and industrial factors involved in the Carrier Strike decision.
From the papers it saw, the NAO could not understand how those factors were brought together to enable the MoD to reach a judgement on value for money.
The NAO identifies two principal risks to value for money on Carrier Strike:
- The SDSR is unaffordable unless there is a real terms increase in defence funding from 2015 onwards.
- The SDSR decision has introduced more technical, cost and schedule uncertainty.
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