Typhoon bill 'unacceptably high'

The bill for Britain's Typhoon fast jets is "unacceptably high" and the project's failings the result of "bad planning", an influential Commons committee has said.

Typhoon jets have not flown the number of hours required of them due to a shortage of spares, meaning the MoD has had to "cannibalise" parts from some aircraft to keep others flying. As a result, five pilots had to be grounded temporarily in 2010 and only eight out of 48 pilots have been trained in the ground attack role, the Public Accounts Committee found.

The comments follow a National Audit Office report which slammed the MoD for the "spiralling" costs of the Typhoon procurement.

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