The armed forces may be left without vital equipment because of the Ministy of Defence's "Woeful" management of major procurement projects, MPs say
BBC News 13/10/05
These would be the same MPs who effectively hold a gun to the MoD's head forcing them to buy unproven, highly expensive British kit (Eurofighter, Astute, Nimrod MRA4 etc) rather than proven, off the shelf, value-for-money kit from, for example, the States. I know that not everything that comes out of America is fantastic but wouldn't a Sqn or two of F16s or F18s been more cost effective than Eurofighter?