The UK’s ability to fight a war is being compromised by “significant problems” in its F-35 fighter jets programme, the Commons spending watchdog has warned the Government.
Keir Starmer announced at the Nato summit in June that Britain would purchase 12 F-35A jets to bolster the alliance’s airborne nuclear capabilities.
But a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee said ministers still do not know when the RAF jets will be able to carry nuclear weapons or how much the project will cost.
The report looked at the entire F-35 programme, which includes F-35As capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and F35-Bs which have conventional capability.
Whilst acknowledging they were “the best fast jet” the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ever had, the committee said only 24 of the 37 F-35s were capable of being deployed.
It said the MoD “has problems ensuring sufficient aircraft are available to fly”, citing “unacceptable” personnel shortages, such as a shortage of trained pilots, engineers and instructors as one problem. It added that the jets would not have the ability to strike ground targets until the 2030s.
It also suggested the MoD was being disingenuous in its statement that the fleet was approaching full operational capability and said that the MoD’s decisions to put off expenditure ended up costing more in the long run.
‘Not as capable as they could be’
The need for Britain to boost its war-fighting capability has become more urgent due to increasing global instability and the threat from Russia.
While the new nuclear-equipped F-35As are “20 to 25 per cent cheaper” than the F-35Bs currently operated by the RAF and Royal Navy “and slightly cheaper to support”, the additional training and personnel required to join the nuclear mission meant it was a “reasonable assumption that this may end up proving more expensive”, the committee said.
HMS Prince of Wales, the 65,000-ton aircraft carrier capable of deploying up to 36 F-35 jets. The committee said only 24 of the 37 F-35s were capable of being deployed (Photo: David Mareuil/Anadolu via Getty)Committee chairman Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told The i Paper: “I think it is self-evident from what we say in our report that if we don’t have the full capability of these F-35s, which clearly our report makes clear that we haven’t … they are not as capable as they would be with those things, and therefore they need to be put into action on the aircraft as soon as possible.”
The report said that the MoD was also yet to set out how long it would take to make the necessary arrangements for equipping the jets with nuclear weapons.
It said the MoD’s “cost-cutting approach has caused significant problems in its use”, and called for a “more radical plan to address an unacceptable personnel shortage, while raising questions over the costs of introducing F-35As in their nuclear weapons role”.
Short-term decision-making
The report lays out a pattern of short-term decision-making from MoD impacting the F-35’s capability, availability to fly and value for money, including:
A delayed investment in the facility which assesses the F-35’s stealth capability. In the short term £82m was saved by 2024-25, but inflation from building later will have cost MoD £16m more than that by 2031-32; In 2010, the MoD chose to delay the delivery of some aircraft to make short-term financial savings, reducing the number of aircraft available today – a situation exacerbated by a delay of seven aircraft by a year in 2020 for financial reasons; The delay of 809 Naval Air Squadron’s infrastructure, delivery of which MoD decided to put off till 2029 to save money, knowing it would cost more long-term and reduce capability. Costs here have now increased from £56m to a forecast £154m.The programme suffers from an unacceptable shortage of engineers, which poses an obstacle to the jets flying more often, the report said.
Clifton-Brown said: “Making short-term cost decisions is famously inadvisable if you’re a homeowner with a leaky roof, let alone if one is running a complex fighter jet programme – and yet such decisions have been rife in the management of the F-35.
MoD slow to learn basic lessons
“There are basic lessons here that MoD has been worryingly slow to learn. Its appraisal of the F35’s whole-life cost is unrealistic, which it currently gives as at almost £57bn through to 2069.
“The F-35 is the best fighter jet this nation has ever possessed. If it is to be wielded in the manner in which it deserves, the MoD must root out the short-termism, complacency and miscalculation in the programme identified in our report.”
An MoD spokesperson said: “This report rightly recognises the world-class capabilities of the F-35 fighter jet, which remains within the approved budget, supports 20,000 jobs across the UK and creates £22bn of work for UK companies, backing defence as an engine for growth.
“Many of the decisions referenced in the report were taken under the previous government, and we have set out plans to tackle historic issues with procurement, infrastructure, recruitment and skills through the Strategic Defence Review.
“Our plans will ensure the programme delivers on budget, and for our Armed Forces, including having two full squadrons of F-35 fighter jets ready for deployment by the end of this year.”
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