Originally Posted by
racedo
It is symtomatic of the malaise that RN will be blamed because UK Govt underfunds everything unless it is a mega capital project that sucks up billions as a bottomless pit.
Yes, its relatively easy to find CapEx funding, as its largely one-off, it's also sexy and high profile, is often used as a political bribe, creates "new" jobs, and can be career defining. Hence the commonly used term of vanity project.
OpEx or "run" funding is a different matter. Who cares about keeping the lights on, ensuring that carrier you just spent $X Bn on is fully manned, or if Typhoon pilots are achieving required currency? There's no prizes for this dull stuff, so just keep chop, chop, chopping until you eventually have to make the "hard decision" to retire due to obsolescence or some other such guff, bought about by years of chronic underfunding.
Other Government depts are no different, hundreds of millions can be found for new road schemes, but we refuse to maintain the ones we've got!