Yes, the cracks are getting wider
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...VCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/30/ndefence130.xml
The Ministry of Defence was "living in cloud-cuckoo-land" in believing it could achieve all its major procurement projects, the head of the Commons' defence committee has said.
In a damning hearing on the MoD's equipment programme, the military was forced to concede it "did not know" whether cash would be available for major projects.
Defence analysts believe the MoD is facing a £3 billion shortfall out of £19 billion in funding for hardware vital to ensuring Britain's global position at the "top table".
The Chief of Defence Material admitted to MPs that this year's planning round for the procurement budget was the toughest since the 1970s.
Gen Kevin O'Donoghue was the first official to publicly suggest that one of the military's major defence projects faced the axe.
Among the projects in disarray is the "stand-off" over the £4 billion aircraft carrier programme announced with great fanfare by the Government last year.
The committee heard that the defence cash flow was "as serious as it has ever been".
Gen O'Donoghue said the defence industry wanted to see "less projects properly funded, rather than more projects not properly funded".
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said it confirmed "that since the Comprehensive Spending Review some or all of our major defence projects, so therefore our National Security, could be at risk as a result of Gordon Brown's serial underfunding of the Armed Forces".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...VCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/30/ndefence130.xml
The Ministry of Defence was "living in cloud-cuckoo-land" in believing it could achieve all its major procurement projects, the head of the Commons' defence committee has said.
In a damning hearing on the MoD's equipment programme, the military was forced to concede it "did not know" whether cash would be available for major projects.
Defence analysts believe the MoD is facing a £3 billion shortfall out of £19 billion in funding for hardware vital to ensuring Britain's global position at the "top table".
The Chief of Defence Material admitted to MPs that this year's planning round for the procurement budget was the toughest since the 1970s.
Gen Kevin O'Donoghue was the first official to publicly suggest that one of the military's major defence projects faced the axe.
Among the projects in disarray is the "stand-off" over the £4 billion aircraft carrier programme announced with great fanfare by the Government last year.
The committee heard that the defence cash flow was "as serious as it has ever been".
Gen O'Donoghue said the defence industry wanted to see "less projects properly funded, rather than more projects not properly funded".
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said it confirmed "that since the Comprehensive Spending Review some or all of our major defence projects, so therefore our National Security, could be at risk as a result of Gordon Brown's serial underfunding of the Armed Forces".