National Audit Office Report – For a change the annual NAO Report found other fish to fry than the Aircraft Carrier programme.    The failure to deliver new vehicles and equipment on time will leave the Forces short of air-to-air refuelling and transport aircraft and a communications system classed as an “urgent operational requirement” for troops in Afghanistan has also been delayed and will not be available before the British withdrawal.      Despite the problems the auditors’ annual report on major defence equipment projects suggested that the MoD’s management of its procurement plans is improving slowly.

The aircraft carriers do not escape attention as the costs of the increased by £217 million partly due to the Coalition Governments decision to change the type of aircraft they are planned to carry.