Nimrod Destruction Cost The British Taxpayer £3.4bn

A Nimrod MRA4 reconnaissance aircraft sits parked on the tarmac waiting to be scrapped last February Photo: GETTY

Nimrod Destruction Cost Taxpayer £3.4bn As MoD Ignored 'Cost Implications', MPs Say -- The Telegraph

The destruction of the Nimrod surveillance aircraft fleet wasted £3.4 billion of taxpayers' money, according to an MPs report which concluded that short term defence cuts have led to huge costs.

In a scathing criticism of defence cuts the Public Account Committee said delaying the building of two aircraft carriers and the Astute class submarines had already increased the Ministry of Defence's by more than £5 billion in the long term.

“Decisions to delay or cut programmes to save money in the short term continue to lead to increased costs in the longer term and do not represent good value for money,” said Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP and PAC chairman.

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My Comment: Cost implications !?!?!?! That is the last thing that MoD bureaucrats are going to focus on. The sad truth is that government bureaucrats are rarely focused on 'cost implications' .... that is the job of the politicians .... politicians who have obviously been AWOL on this Nimrod decision.

Death-Crash Spy Planes Are Still Leaking Fuel

Nimrod MR2: In 2006, 14 British service personnel died in an aircraft of this type

From The Independent:

Britain's 18 Nimrods remain in daily use in Afghanistan, two months after a coroner called for the entire fleet to be grounded.

Crews on the RAF's ageing Nimrod spy planes have reported more than 300 fuel leaks in the two years since the disastrous crash which claimed 14 lives in Afghanistan in September 2006.

Bob Ainsworth, Defence minister, revealed that since the explosion near Kandahar, which caused the heaviest loss of life in a single incident since the Falklands war, crews had been under an obligation to report all fuel leaks.

In May private correspondence between Mr Ainsworth and his Tory Shadow Liam Fox had suggested there had been 111 fuel leaks since the disaster. However, this week Mr Ainsworth revealed that the figure of 111 referred solely to leaks from fuel tanks inside the fuselage of the 40-year-old craft.

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My Comment: And the MoD wonders why half their staff wants to quit?