Longwings
we spend roughly the same as the Russians...h'mm ...6 combat squadrons, 19 frigates and destroyers..200 tanks..of which 50 odd are front line serviceable in one regiment?..vrs....??? ...bit embarrassing really.
I've been saying this for years. We spend nearly 2/3rds of our budget on infrastructure and equipment - both of which we are NOT getting value for money from.
At a local level on a station/base if we were allowed to get local contractors in then we could save at least 50% rather than going through DIO and their single-source regional prime contractor. Furthermore, whilst the R&D costs are 2,9% of the budget for equipment, this is an out-and-out lie; the reason why our defence equipment is so expensive is because we don't buy much off of the shelf and end up paying for the R&D costs in the procurment costs - that's why Typhoon, Astute, Watchkeeper, L85 rifles, A400M, Voyager, Type 45, etc... all cost well over the odds for what we pay for them. Whereas Reaper, Rivet Joint, etc... which were bought off of the shelf come in on, or under, budget and on, or under, agreed delivery dates, offer far better value to the defence budget. That is why we have 6 combat squadrons - dumb ass procurement with industry fat cats lining their pockets.
IMHO of course...
LJ