UK Forces to Face Vehicle Shortage

The UK Armed Forces will face shortages of armoured vehicles for the next 13 years due to unstable financial planning by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned in a report.

The report said that the MoD had made significant investments in equipment that was never delivered, and that the procurement process delivered only a fraction of the vehicles set for purchase.

The NAO said since 1998, MoD has spent £718m on armoured vehicle programmes which have been either scrapped or are yet to be delivered.

"Armoured vehicle projects have suffered from unstable budgets and continual changes to financial plans. The cycle of unrealistic planning followed by cost overruns has led to a need to find additional short-term savings on a regular basis," the report added.

UK Defence Equipment Minister Peter Luff said the government was committed to ensuring that the troops were well equipped.

"Given the disastrous state of the department's finances we inherited, this change will take time," he added.