Navy's new destroyers 'delayed'

12 April 2012

The Royal Navy's new Type 45 destroyers will be at least two years late, £1.5 billion over-budget, and will initially set to sea without their crucial anti-aircraft missile system, the Whitehall spending watchdog has warned.

The National Audit Office said that delays to the Type 45 programme meant the Navy was having to extend the life of its ageing Type 42s which were originally designed for the Cold War.

It said that the problems with the project had become so severe, there had been a breakdown in the relationship between the MoD and the shipbuilders, BVT, forcing a complete renegotiation of the contract.

The NAO also warned that the decision to halve the Type 45 fleet, from 12 to six, meant the Navy would struggle to meet its aim of always having five available to protect its two new aircraft carriers once they become operational.

The total cost of the Type 45 programme is now estimated at £6.5 billion - a 29% increase on the original budget of £5 billion.

The MoD is aiming to get the first of the new ships, HMS Daring, into service at the end of this year - two years later than planned - although the NAO said that meeting even this revised target would be "challenging".

Even then, Daring will not get its new principle anti-air missile system (PAAMS) - which can shoot down multiple enemy aircraft or missiles simultaneously - until 2011, although the MoD believes it could be deployed earlier in an emergency.

The ship's full communications system will also not be ready until after 2009, while the US-designed co-operative engagement capability (CEC) - linking weapons systems and sensors on a number of ships, improving their ability to fight together - will not be available until 2014, after the last of the Type 45s had entered service.

The NAO acknowledged that the MoD had always planned to install the full range of capabilities "incrementally" as the ships started becoming operational. However, it pointed out that the Navy was relying on the new technology, like CEC, to make up for the fact that it was now acquiring fewer Type 45s than originally planned.

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said: "Even by MoD standards this is a colossal budget overspend and will be met with genuine outrage. It beggars belief that the MoD can blow so much on poor project management while our troops are risking their lives because of a lack of armoured vehicles and helicopters. The troops and the taxpayers deserve far better than this. We cannot go on with this catalogue of procurement disasters."

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