Warships, jets and tanks worth £2.5 billion scrapped in Whitehall cost-cutting drive
Value of some pieces of military hardware was greater than savings made in scrapping, records show
Ministers have been accused of “scandalous waste” after the cost to the taxpayer of scrapping some pieces of military equipment ran to more than double the intended saving.
On some programmes, the value of the lost equipment was far greater than the savings made in day-to-day running costs incurred by abandoning it.
Selling the entire fleet of Britain’s 74 Harrier jump jets in 2011, seven years earlier than planned, was intended to save £2.8 billion.
Ending the Harrier programme is recorded as a in the MoD accounts as a loss of £1.29 billion.
The fleet was bought by the United States Navy, which still uses the planes, for around £100 million.
US defence chiefs suggested they had secured a bargain given the good condition of the jets, saying the purchase was “like buying a car with maybe 15,000 miles on it.”
Warships, jets and tanks worth £2.5 billion scrapped in Whitehall cost-cutting drive
Value of some pieces of military hardware was greater than savings made in scrapping, records show
Ministers have been accused of “scandalous waste” after the cost to the taxpayer of scrapping some pieces of military equipment ran to more than double the intended saving.
On some programmes, the value of the lost equipment was far greater than the savings made in day-to-day running costs incurred by abandoning it.
Selling the entire fleet of Britain’s 74 Harrier jump jets in 2011, seven years earlier than planned, was intended to save £2.8 billion.
Ending the Harrier programme is recorded as a in the MoD accounts as a loss of £1.29 billion.
The fleet was bought by the United States Navy, which still uses the planes, for around £100 million.
US defence chiefs suggested they had secured a bargain given the good condition of the jets, saying the purchase was “like buying a car with maybe 15,000 miles on it.”
Anyone with at slightest idea of the gross incompetence (and corruption?) of successive British governments and the Ministry of Defence will not be surprised in the slightest by this announcement.
Well, the value in the books was 1.29bn (so selling them at the price Uncle Sam got them means a serious depreciation), that doesn't mean that the operating cost savings cannot be 2.8bn. These are two very different figures...
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