I just scanned a National Audit Office news release which says:
Ministry of Defence: The Equipment Plan 2017 to 2027
The Ministry of Defence's (the Department's) ten year Equipment Plan is not affordable and does not provide a realistic forecast of the costs the Department will have to meet over the next 10 years buying and supporting the equipment it has determined the Armed Forces need.
There is a time for subtlety.
The NAO clearly decided this was not one such occasion.
I think this might be called a pretty poor fail. But that is worrying in the context of a government that does not appear to be able to get much else right.
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An aircraft carrier with no planes.
Leaky new nuclear submarines.
Men and woman forced to fight in the wrong gear for the theatre they operate in.
Selling armed forces homes off too cheaply to the private sector.
Using reservists in the frontline operations.
Leaving broken ex soldiers to fend for themselves after serving their country.
I could go on but the NAO are not the only ones who are not impressed.
Quite so
Is there similarity between the set goals and the recurring financial management out-turns of the MOD and the recent two newsworthy shared services goliaths?
Got loads of planes coming….@£130 million each…48 for a start.
Unfortunately the Russians have new missiles equipped with long-wave radars that can defeat their stealth capability…that’s if they fly, because their firmware is so rag-bag and unreliable with many different versions…still, early days.
Carrier leak isn’t problem as long as the pumps work….bigger problem is that in the event of a conflict going nuclear, the carrier/s will likely be targeted immediately.
And since it looks likely that DJT is going to go for broke and attack North Korea soon, now may be a good time to plan a holiday in either the Arctic, or Antarctica…..especially as Mad Tracy will probably back him to the maximum extent that our lives allow….
How many bothered to look at this: Executive Order Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption Dec 21, 2017
Cat: Pigeons
If any conflict goes nuclear, the status of our aircraft carriers will be low on the list of concerns.
How can MoD spending be “not affordable”? I thought we could just print the money we needed … ?
You are well aware that choice is still required and that economies have capacity constraints
Making comments which ignore realities does not help debate
Yes, there are choices, and constraints. We have chosen to have the aircraft carriers, so we need to find the funds to pay for them. As the NAO says, the MOD’s cost forecast is unrealistic (surely no one is surprised when a large defence project ends up being more expensive than originally expected) so they will need more money from somewhere.
Which reality am I ignoring?