The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been forced to reconsider proceeding with the Nimrod programme, after it has grossly overshot both its budget and its required time deadline.

The Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft has been plagued by technical snags and is already eight years late with nearly one billion already spent above the established budget. MPs now find themselves in a situation where they may consider it wiser to quit now and reduce further losses which may run up to 100 million pounds in 2007/8, bringing the total expenditure to 800 million pounds.

The Nimrod MRA4 was announced in 1992 to replace the Nimrod MR2; the programme has however still not taken off due to technical problems. The most disappointing aspect will be the lack of these new Joint Strike Fighter Aircrafts when the navy’s two new aircraft carriers will enter service in 2014, due to the delays that have already been encountered.

MPs believe that the MoD should resort o more radical alterations such as scrapping entire programmes that seem to be troubled or unaffordable to start with, rather than just making minor changes such as delaying orders or reducing the number of platforms ordered. They believe that a more realistic equipment programme will bolster the confidence of the Armed Forces as such programmes can be executed on time and within the allocated budget.

Following the Comprehensive Spending Review, the Defence Budget for 2008/09 has been fixed to approximately 34 billion pounds.

Things to consider:
aircraft storage