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By James Kirkup
Political Correspondent
Daily Telegraph 16th October 2009
The Ministry of Defence, which is £35bn over its equipment budget, is still failing to provide troops on the front line with the right kit, a government review says.
Bernard Gray, a former Labour adviser who studied the MoD procurement plan, found Britain could not afford all the ships, armoured vehicles and aircraft that have been ordered. The programme of defence equipment and vehicles is "unaffordable on any likely projection of future budgets" he says in a 300-page report published yesterday. The MoD system of ordering and paying for equipment and vehicles creates a "systematic incentive" for officials and military chiefs to underestimate severely the financial cost of the project, Mr Gray said.
When the inevitable overspend arises, the MoD responds by trying to delay delivery of the equipment. The result is that the average procurement project is five years behind schedule and £300million over budget, he calculates. The total overspend on the current order book will reach £35billion.
The report says procurement problems are undermining military operations.
The failure to provide the right equipment on budget and on time has increased the danger to troops, Mr Gray says. Without radical reform, the danger to British troops will grow, as enemies find ways to exploit soldiers' lack of appropriate kit.
Mr Gray says squabbling between the Army, Navy and Air Force also contributes to the problems with equipment. The defence budget is likely to be reduced next year, regardless of who wins the next election. Both Labour and the Tories are committed to holding a strategic defence review in the next Parliament.
When that review comes , Mr Gray says Britain will have to choose between being able to conduct major, state-of-the-art warfare and smaller, 'intervention' missions in places such as Afghanistan and Kosovo.
Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrat spokesman, said: "The Government has presided over a decade of overstretch and spiralling costs without being straight with the public about the consequences".
Lord Drayson, the Defence Procurement Minister, did not challenge Mr Gray's conclusions, "This is pretty stark" he said. However, the Government rejected Mr Gray's call to hand defence procurement over to the private sector.
The MoD said: "We are not convinced that such a change would ultimately lead to better outcomes for the Armed Forces or defence generally".
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