06 March 2009
By David Williams
MPs have condemned shrinking investment in defence research, saying Britain’s military capability and role in the world could be diminished unless the cuts are reversed.
Defence equipment 2009, published by the Commons defence select committee on February 26, said the policy was ‘short-sighted’ as the country’s military capability depended on being able to develop new equipment. ‘If the UK is to play a meaningful role in the world in the future, sufficient funding for defence research needs to be ring-fenced,’ it concluded.
‘The Ministry of Defence must… reverse the cut in research spending; if not, the role which our armed forces can play in the future risks being substantially diminished.’
The committee warned that the MoD’s failure to prepare a Defence Industrial Strategy, now more than a year overdue, could result in British industry being unprepared to meet the forces’ future demands.
The report also damned the shelved Future Rapid Effect System, the army’s programme for new battlefield armoured vehicles, as a ‘fiasco’. The project was ‘poorly conceived and managed’ and had wasted both the MoD’s and the industry’s time and money, the committee said.
However, the ministry’s Defence Equipment and Support organisation was praised for its performance in delivering supplies to Iraq and Afghanistan, while the Urgent Operational Requirement system was described as ‘highly effective’ in providing equipment in reaction to new threats.
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