Overdue and over budget: $8bn destroyer plan in crisis

Bitter infighting has erupted between government and industry over the nation's largest defence project, the $8 billion plan to build the navy's new air warfare destroyers, which is two years late and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.

The government was yesterday forced to admit publicly that the flagship project was badly behind schedule after it became aware The Australian had the story and was planning to publish it today.

Insiders say the plan to build three 6500-tonne destroyers is in crisis barely a year after construction of the ships' steel hulls began in Melbourne, Newcastle and Adelaide. They warn that the AWD project threatens to become the biggest defence industry bungle since the Collins Class submarine construction in the 1990s.

Read more