Not an immediate issue but give it ten years when we have to buy all our modern kit abroad atr inflated prices:
MoD cuts 'forcing research abroad'
By Christopher Hope (Filed: 01/03/2006)
Britain's biggest defence companies yesterday accused the Government of cutting funding for research, forcing key projects to go overseas for financial support.
The scathing attack came from the chief executives of BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Qinetiq as they addressed MPs on the House of Commons defence committee.
Sir John Chisholm, chairman of Qinetiq, led the assault, claiming that the Ministry of Defence's research and technology (R&T) budget "has halved in value since the early 1990s".
He said: "The main funding has gone to short-term research and the large cut-backs fall on the longer term research, which is in the area where profound technologies can emerge."
Sir John said the MoD's R&T budget of £250m a year was set to remain "broadly flat" for the next 10 years. He urged the MoD to increase this figure by 25pc.
This meant that longer term research projects, which might yield benefits for the British military in 10 to 15 years' time, were not being funded, he said.
Another result of this shortfall was that some key projects had gone overseas. "Qinetiq has examples of exciting innovations which the MoD has not been able to support and instead has had to win research funds from the US," Sir John said.
Qinetiq's main complaint was that December's defence strategy, which sets out the MoD's spending plans for the next 10 years, was "silent" on R&T spending.
The strategy also "took no view on the benefit or otherwise" of Qinetiq employing 6,000 scientists in the UK. But Mike Hancock, a Liberal Democrat MP on the committee, wanted to know why Qinetiq, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last month, could not afford to pay for more R&T itself. Sir John replied: "When you can't see a near-term return, it is not a matter for a company but for a country."
Later, Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, which spends £200m a year on R&T, told the MPs: "We have stopped investing in this country in R&T. I'm afraid that it is not a priority for this country, but there is a very different attitude in the US where they spend $73bn (£42bn) a year on defence."
Sir John Rose, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, which spends £600m a year on R&T, added that he believed the MoD's spending on research had fallen by 75pc in the past 15 years.
Giving evidence later, Lord Drayson, the defence procurement minister, said the MoD would publish a separate R&T paper "by the end of this year".
He added: "We want to publish a technology strategy to address this issue. This year we will increase R&T spending in line with inflation, when it has been kept at the same level. We need to see if we have got it right. We want to make sure that we are spending our money wisely."
www.telegraph.co.uk/money...tytop.html
MoD cuts 'forcing research abroad'
By Christopher Hope (Filed: 01/03/2006)
Britain's biggest defence companies yesterday accused the Government of cutting funding for research, forcing key projects to go overseas for financial support.
The scathing attack came from the chief executives of BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Qinetiq as they addressed MPs on the House of Commons defence committee.
Sir John Chisholm, chairman of Qinetiq, led the assault, claiming that the Ministry of Defence's research and technology (R&T) budget "has halved in value since the early 1990s".
He said: "The main funding has gone to short-term research and the large cut-backs fall on the longer term research, which is in the area where profound technologies can emerge."
Sir John said the MoD's R&T budget of £250m a year was set to remain "broadly flat" for the next 10 years. He urged the MoD to increase this figure by 25pc.
This meant that longer term research projects, which might yield benefits for the British military in 10 to 15 years' time, were not being funded, he said.
Another result of this shortfall was that some key projects had gone overseas. "Qinetiq has examples of exciting innovations which the MoD has not been able to support and instead has had to win research funds from the US," Sir John said.
Qinetiq's main complaint was that December's defence strategy, which sets out the MoD's spending plans for the next 10 years, was "silent" on R&T spending.
The strategy also "took no view on the benefit or otherwise" of Qinetiq employing 6,000 scientists in the UK. But Mike Hancock, a Liberal Democrat MP on the committee, wanted to know why Qinetiq, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last month, could not afford to pay for more R&T itself. Sir John replied: "When you can't see a near-term return, it is not a matter for a company but for a country."
Later, Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, which spends £200m a year on R&T, told the MPs: "We have stopped investing in this country in R&T. I'm afraid that it is not a priority for this country, but there is a very different attitude in the US where they spend $73bn (£42bn) a year on defence."
Sir John Rose, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, which spends £600m a year on R&T, added that he believed the MoD's spending on research had fallen by 75pc in the past 15 years.
Giving evidence later, Lord Drayson, the defence procurement minister, said the MoD would publish a separate R&T paper "by the end of this year".
He added: "We want to publish a technology strategy to address this issue. This year we will increase R&T spending in line with inflation, when it has been kept at the same level. We need to see if we have got it right. We want to make sure that we are spending our money wisely."
www.telegraph.co.uk/money...tytop.html
