MOD Balances the books
 

Amazing timing with all of the negative coverage being received by the MoD at the moment!

BBC News - Defence budget 'balanced' - Hammond

Finally... years of overspend has been corrected. Rough times ahead.... but necessary to fix the damage done by Liebour. :ok:

Reaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyy............? http://www.cool-smileys.com/images/2030.gif

Forgive my skepticism but the only believable thing ever to come out of a politician's mouth is CO2. :rolleyes:

Perhaps he has decided to scrap Trident at last....

"Balanced"? More like fudged or cooked I suspect.

Hammond for Chancellor?

There are numerous ways of “balancing books”.

In June 1990 AMSO announced (after the policy had been signed off and implementation was underway) that instead of holding serviceable avionic stock to satisfy demands in accordance with the FUD priority system, from April 1990 they would only raise requisitions to initiate repair contracts or procure spares upon an outstanding demand being generated. Overnight, instead of demands being met within a few days, they went to delivery forecasts of up to 18 months. In other words, they didn’t need to spend money and trumpeted this as a savings measure. The fact front line couldn’t get their aircraft serviceable was neither here nor there. This policy was later rescinded up to a point, by the introduction of “Just in Time”; but the FUD system was never the same again.



Similarly, 3rd line workshops stopped holding spares as they appeared as a Debit on their balance sheet. They were sent back to MUs. Their books suddenly “balanced” but Turn Round Times went from days to months. It you time this right, the Debit doesn’t appear on MU’s books until the following year, as the sudden transfer of spares comes as a surprise and they simply can’t cope. At one workshop, the Executive Director (retired Air Cdre) used this device to make the savings he’d signed up to in his personal contract, and duly raked in his bonus.



In 1995 the Chief of Defence Procurement announced that, in future, no contracts were to provide companies with Government Furnished Equipment (GFE). (Take an aircraft Mid Life Upgrade programme. The aircraft for upgrade are fed to the company as GFE, on Contract Loan terms). One (senior) Service promptly demanded that their planned MLU for one aircraft fleet be cancelled, and brand new aircraft bought. Additionally, they withdrew all support for the programme as, according to CDP, all they had to do was sit and wait for their new aircraft. Again, this delayed contracts and resulted in a vastly reduced in-year spend, which looked great on the balance sheet, but the bow wave it created hit MoD a few years later. (CDP maintained his stance).

And so on. I’m not convinced. There will be systematic creative accounting at work here.

So no truth in the article in this month Jet Monthly that UK PLC may be doing an about turn on the Nimrod farce and the lack of a credible maritime force by purchasing the P8 Poseidon.

I wouldn't know about the truth of it but they won't buy it off the shelf. They'lll want mods and structural changes and then it will come in late and overbudget as usual.

Think back to the mess that was made of adapting Argosy for military service. One set of doors welded shut, heavyweight floor fitted and couldn't get a Bedford 3 tonner into it without special gear to compress the suspension so that it could fit into the height of the load space. Typical load in Gulf summer was Aden to Bahrain, possibly with a stop at Masirah, carrying 12 men or a ton of freight. Also could not reach safety height to go Bahrain to Akrotiri via Norther Route (Iran and Turkey) ISTR

Nutloose, they may have been mindful of the Nimrod AEW3 canx followed immediately by the E3D buy. By waiting a year they can argue costs saved, books balanced, affordability etc etc.

A2QFI you are quite right of course. But then again taking out COTS and putting in our own kit will produce a world beating . . .

Books balanced
 

Obviously the Yanks have stumped up with the cheque for the harrier spares

If you look on the DII link to SP's message today, it's hard to see where axes have fallen. I suspect tucumseh may have hit the nail on the head......

nab:
I'm damned certain he has, but what he tactfully (?) omitted adding was that the consequences of the scam that he describes are still with us 25 years later, in the dire airworthiness shortcomings that so preoccupy the MAA today, as well as the airworthiness related fatal accidents accounting for at least 62 deaths in the interim.
If he has indeed hit the nail on the head then everything that the MOD has stood accused of since is confirmed in Spades. In which case....despair!

From the article: "The best way I can support our armed forces... is to give them the assurance of stable and well-balanced budget and that the equipment programme is managed and affordable."

Really, Mr Hammond? Really? That's the best way you can support us....?

I can think of a few better ways. "Hey guys, your allowances have been torn to shreds, quarters are moudly and expensive, you're on a real-money 4 year pay cut, costs and charges have gone up, time away's increased, training's shot to hell, but don't worry, the budget's balanced and the equipment's affordable! You feel supported, right?"

5F6B,

My cynic meter has just blown up! I have to say, though, that I agree with you; the news sounds great in a budget meeting but doesn't translate well to most of us worried about the very real terms pay cut.

His next press release will describe "the colour of the sky in my world".

T

But surely, it's the economy, stupid! Balance the budget and you can afford to address the deficiencies. The current SoS could fairly reasonably argue that the failings that you highlight, exist only because the budget has never been balanced.

Balanced budget to buy ,among others, the following items;
U.K. Sets £160B 10-Year Defense Equipment Plan

Chicken Leg, good point... I suppose with a balanced budget, I can assume my squadron won't randomly be shut, and my fleet won't suddenly disappear overnight....

... that said, a pay rise wouldn't go amiss, right? :ok:

Mmmmh I bet they still make a shed load of people redundant in Tranch 2 that don't want to leave......

smokejumper,


Of COURSE they will, that's what redundancy is, look the word up!

The budget balances precisely because they HAVE cut projects, capability and people.