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| Britain |
| UK: Further delays in major Defence projects |
| 2009-05-15 |
| Britain’s major defence projects are continuing to suffer further delays and increased costs, according to the latest annual report into 20 of the country’s largest military equipment projects. The Public Accounts Committee said that the findings were disappointing, “particularly because the problems are being caused by previously identified failures such as poor project management, a lack of realism, not identifying key dependencies and underestimating of costs and timescales.” “Today’s set of results, for the year 2007-08, is disappointing. In that year alone, the delay to the introduction of these projects increased by 96 months (the worst in-year slippage since 2003),” caid Conservative MP Edward Leigh, who chairs the committee. “The forecast cost of all of them increased by another £205 million over the original budget, to a total of almost £28 billion,” Leigh also said. “What lies behind this are the same old failings: including, at the start of projects, both a lack of realism and unjustified optimism about what can be achieved, at what cost and by when.” Total slippage of the combined projects now stands at over 40 years, representing a 36% increase on approved timescales. The committee chair warned that the consequences of the delays were “serious” for the UK’s service men and women. With regard to the escalating costs, he said the MoD “to live within its budget, is having to trade some future defence capabilities. This will limit what our hard-pressed forces are able to do in future operations.” The report comes after the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed on Thursday British soldiers in Afghanistan were suffering from delays in receiving essential equipment, with more than half the demands for urgent operational equipment not being met. The NAO also reported that new Vector armoured vehicles designed to give troops greater protection against Taliban attacks were being withdrawn after performing so badly and that commanders have had to resort to the old Land Rovers they were designed to replace. One of the consequences of not meeting targets was that the additional 3–4 year delay to the A400M aircraft meant either older Hercules aircraft will have to serve beyond their planned Out of Service Date, or other transport aircraft will have to be bought or leased. In the latest report, Leigh said that the MoD introduced reforms in 2001 but said these have not yet had an effect. |
| Posted by:Pappy |