Dark Days for U.K. Defense as Program Delays are Announced
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Source: CIA |
NEWTOWN, Conn. - As expected, British Defense Secretary John Hutton announced that two major defense programs will be cut and delayed as a result of the GBP1.5-2 billion ($2.25-3 billion) shortfall in the Ministry of Defense's budget. Faced with a deepening recession, the Labor government - no big fan of defense spending to begin with - opted to make defense the first area to be cut as it attempts to reduce spending and get Britain's finances under control.
As a result the GBP4 billion Royal Navy program for two new 65,000-ton aircraft carriers will be delayed by up to one year. This pushes back the earliest in-service dates for the two carriers, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and the HMS Prince of Wales, to 2015 and 2017, respectively. Both ships had originally been planned for service entry in 2012 and 2014 under the MoD's 1998 Strategic Defense Review (SDR). Though some have argued that by delaying the program the cost of the ships will go up, others - namely unions - have been receptive to the delays arguing that this provides for a prolonged period of guaranteed employment for shipyard workers. The Royal Navy will also be affected by the announced delay concerning the MARS program. MARS involves a new fleet of tankers for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary that are considered essential support ships for the Royal Navy.
The second major program under the MoD microscope is the battered FRES (Future Rapid Effects System) project, which envisions a family of armored fighting vehicles to replace material still in use since the 1960s. The MoD has terminated negotiations with General Dynamics UK over its provisionally-selected Piranha V armored vehicle intended to fill the utility variant of FRES. With over GBP700 million spent on hundreds of mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles under Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) orders in the past year, the MoD deduced that FRES was perhaps not as an imperative priority as before.
The program is not entirely dead, however, as the scout vehicle element of FRES will be given precedence so as to replace the ageing Scimitar light tank (part of the CVR(T) series that entered service in 1971). The scout vehicle will be purchased off-the-shelf with contenders from BAE Systems and General Dynamics having been reviewed. However, even in regards to the scout vehicle the Army will not be receiving them until 2013 at the earliest.
Source: Forecast International Military Markets Group
Source Date: December 12, 2008
Author: D. Darling, Europe Analyst
Posted: 12/12/2008