Gazing into the UK MoD’s fiscal black hole

In this episode of the Weekly Defence Podcast, we bring you the latest from the land, air and naval domains in the UK and provide you with an insight of the most relevant defence stories of the last month in the Asia-Pacific region.

• News Round (00:42)  

This week our domain journalists focus on the UK after the MoD released its latest Defence Equipment Plan, covering the period 2019-2029. The plan, which was rated ‘unaffordable’ by the National Audit Office (NAO), reveals a fiscal black hole that threatens future investments in procurement of new equipment across the land, sea and air domains.

In depth:

Land Reporter Flavia Camargos Pereira touches on the potential implications for the British Army as it attempts to implement a challenging modernisation programme. Officially, £32 billion is set aside for army equipment projects in 2019-2029, but the NAO report raises questions over the fate of programmes such as Ajax, Boxer, the Challenger 2 replacement, MRV-P (JLTV) and Warrior. 

Editor – Air Tim Martin highlights some potential impacts on UK air programmes. A lack of funding is likely to result in significantly delayed deliveries of the MQ-9B Protector UAV, for example. RAF procurement of E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and P-8 Poseidon MRA1 maritime patrol aircraft could also be affected, which in the first case could translate into a serious capability gap. Tim also delves into the Sea Venom design: the Defence Equipment Plan mentioned design problems with the anti-ship missile, resulting in a 15-month in-service delay.  

Senior Editor - Naval Richard Thomas updates our listeners on how the senior service fares under the Defence Equipment Plan. Naval Command expects to spend around £30.9 billion over the next ten years. This includes the completion of build and trials activity of the carrier HMS Prince of Wales and work-up of HMS Queen Elizabeth for its first operational deployment in 2021. However, costly problems on the construction of HMS Audacious (boat four in the seven-boat Astute class of submarines) are having a knock-on effect for the delivery of the next boat, HMS Anson.

• Deep Dive – The latest from Asia-Pacific (18:23)

Asia-Pacific Editor Gordon Arthur brings our listeners the latest news from the region, looking at some of the biggest stories of the last month following shows in India and Singapore.

Gordon talks about Singapore’s plan to increase its naval capacity by investing in more littoral vessels and upgraded patrol boats. He also mentions the prospects for Indian procurement of MH-60R helicopters, in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s recent visit. Elsewhere, in China the PLA is placing a major order for body armour; and in Australia the RAAF faces a problem after the USN suspended acquisition of the MQ-4C Triton for two years. 

• Interview- Schiebel (31:35)

Gordon Arthur talks to Hans Schiebel, chairman of the eponymous Austrian company, about a recent contract from the Royal Thai Navy to supply its Camcopter S-100 VTOL UAS. Gordon also asks about future plans and investments from Schiebel in South East Asia. 

 Music and sound mixing provided by Fred Prest