Troops forced to use obsolete equipment

Troops in Afghanistan are using obsolete kit because of delays to equipment projects, MPs said. The Commons Public Accounts Committee said the 20 biggest equipment projects had slipped behind by 96 months during the course of 2007-08 – the worst performance since 2003.

Costs rose by £208m during the year, taking the expected budget overrun to £28bn, a 12 per cent increase on original estimates. Projects hit by delays include the Terrier armoured vehicle and the Soothsayer electronic warfare system, meaning the Ministry of Defence has had to buy stopgap vehicles and continue using obsolete equipment.

A delay of up to four years to the A400M transport aircraft has meant that the RAF's ageing Hercules fleet will have to carry on longer than planned or that other aircraft will have to be bought or leased.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said the projects which had seen the biggest delays were those in which investment decisions were taken after 2001, when reforms to the system of procurement were meant to have been introduced. He blamed "a lack of realism and unjustified optimism about what can be achieved" and said: "Delays to projects have led to gaps in our present front-line capability."