MPs attack MoD over £8bn weapons project waste

Weapons projects that have been written off or delayed have cost the taxpayer more than £8bn, a cross-party committee of senior MPs said in a withering critique of waste in the Ministry of Defence.

The decision to cancel the Nimrod MRA4 and Sentinel reconnaissance aircraft will lead to greater operational risks as well a write-off of nearly £5bn, the Commons public accounts committee says in a report which also sheds new light on the row over the decision to go ahead with the contract to build two new large aircraft carriers for the navy.

The RAF spent an extra £2.7bn on the Eurofighter/Typhoon project, including the purchase of 16 additional aircraft it did not need, to honour contractual commitments to other countries assembling the planes. The MoD assumed other partner nations would also not wish to purchase the final tranche of aircraft, so the requirement would be waived, says the committee.

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