Former naval chief hits out at Ministry of Defence underfunding
FORMER naval chief, Admiral Lord Alan West, is not surprised by the revelation that the Ministry of Defence's Equipment Plan remains ‘unaffordable’.
A review by the The National Audit Office (NAO) has pointed to a potential funding shortfall of up to £13 billion, stating the MoD has shown an unwillingness to take ‘difficult decisions’, meaning military capabilities could be lost as funding for them runs out.
Lord West said: ‘This is not a surprise. I have been saying for the last five years that the Armed Forces have been underfunded. I am delighted this report has highlighted this fact.’
The MoD announced a rolling 10-year programme to purchase and support military hardware will cost £183.6 billion – a budget overspend of £2.9 billion. However, the NAO warned that if all the risks associated with the plan were to materialise, that overrun could rise to £13 billion
Lord West added: ‘The government has announced these plans but have not been putting the money in to do it.
‘They need to either fund our defence properly or announce that they are unable to do so and therefore we can’t fully protect our shipping or country from potential attack.’
The report said that unless action was taken, the floating hospital facilities provided by the ship RFA Argus could potentially go along with a number of Sentry early warning radar aircraft.
Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, insisted the MoD had made ‘encouraging progress’ in improving its financial management but acknowledged there was ‘work still to do’.
Mr Wallace said: ‘We will need to create the financial headroom in our equipment plan to harness emerging technologies and develop the battle-winning capabilities of tomorrow.
‘We know that to get this right, we must accelerate our work to mobilise, modernise and transform so that we deliver more effectively and efficiently over the long-term.
‘Reviewing our acquisition process will be an important part of this work.’