There’s much talk here of much-needed kit/capability; and supposed unaffordability.
In bygone days, if one identified a nugatory “requirement” or proposed spend in ANY stage of the procurement cycle (concept to disposal), this was (loosely) called a “saving”, in that waste was avoided. This was because money had been “set aside” for the “requirement”, needed an act of God for anyone else to use it. Offering it up as a saving meant other programmes could benefit, or the subject programme could perhaps buy a previously unfunded aspiration. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve done this.
Recently, the MoD definition of a “saving” has quietly changed. Now, the money has to have been committed, not just set aside.
You may not think this a big deal, but..….
The problem has always been, if a saving is identified, it means someone has usually made an error. (Usually of omission, caused by not following mandated rules). They are usually minor, but mushroom if not corrected. Rather than praise the person who identifies the saving, the MoD will do all they can to hide the error. This includes knowingly wasting the money and taking disciplinary action against the “saver”. (Actions, by the way, upheld many times, in writing, by successive senior staffs and ministers). By cutting down on the number of “savings” in this way, they (a) further protect the guilty/incompetent, (b) remove any perceived incentive to report wastage and (c) waste even more money because people cannot learn from their mistakes. (And please don’t cite GEMS to me – anything more than a 4 or 5 zeros at the end is “political dynamite” and swept under the nearest carpet).
While the precise details are not for this forum, hundreds of millions are quite common. On one current programme, which I have never worked on, I could write the case in five minutes identifying real savings of over £100M, while leaving time and performance intact – in fact improving performance. That would buy a lot of Kevlar flooring! It may even fund C-130s inclusion in proposed DAS programmes. Is someone listening out there? If you are, you get my vote.