![]() ![]() “If we were left effectively blinded in a future shooting war with Russia, this could yet turn out to be the mother of all false economies.” Mr Francois, who is also chairman of the ongoing Defence Sub-Committee inquiry into the MoD’s procurement process, said: “The Ministerial decision to cut the number being purchased from five to three – only two of which are likely to be operationally available because of maintenance demands – is extremely dangerous. ![]() The exercise was branded the “mother of all false economies,” by former defence minister Mark Francois. While it is not known how much the radars cost, the figure suggests the sensors are the most expensive part of the aircrafts and likely to cost multiple millions of pounds. Reducing the Wedgetails order from five to two is set to cut just 12.5pc of the project’s budget, reducing the cost from £2.16bn to £1.89bn. “It was decided that production and delivery of all five MESA radars would continue as planned, allowing a saving/offset of initial procurement and sustainment spares from the overall programme cost.” However, the MoD has now confirmed that the UK will still buy the radar systems for all five aircraft.ĭefence minister James Cartlidge said: “At the time of the Integrated Review decision to reduce the scope of the UK E-7 Wedgetail programme from five to three aircraft, the MESA (Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array) radars for aircraft four and five were in production. The planes act as early warning systems for the military thanks to the powerful radar systems installed in each aircraft that can detect threats from hundreds of miles away.ĭefence chiefs cut back the order from five E-7 Wedgetail planes to two in 2021 in an effort to reduce costs. The MoD ordered five new long-range surveillance planes in 2019 to replace ageing “eye in the sky” aircraft. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been accused of wasting taxpayer money after confirming that it will buy five multi-million pound early warning radar systems for just three planes, putting two into storage. ![]()
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