£381m spent on Warrior tanks that may be scrapped

THE Ministry of Defence has spent £381million upgrading the Army’s ageing tanks even though half of them could now be scrapped to save money.

Lockheed Martin was hired six years ago to overhaul and fit new gun turrets to the ageing fleet of Warrior tanks, used in the Gulf, Bosnia and Iraq.

But MOD documents forecast the upgrade is a year behind schedule, with the programme incurring extra costs as a result of delays.

Up to 380 Warriors were to be upgraded under the original plans, forming the backbone of two armoured infantry brigades planned as part of a reorganisation. However, reports last month suggested that one of these bri- gades could be disbanded, with hundreds of its fighting vehicles scrapped as part of a drive to cut costs.

A review of the defence spending programme is also under way, which has led to speculation over cuts to the Royal Marines and the Navy’s amphibious assault vehicles as well as the Warrior programme.

Labour’s Kevan Jones, a former defence minister, said: “Minsters need to urgently explain how £381million has already been spent on a vehicle that might now only be deployed in very limited numbers.

“The Government’s attempts to balance the books of the defence budget are becoming increasingly chaotic.”

An MOD spokesman said of the costs incurred so far: “This money has been used to develop state-of-the-art upgrades and demonstration vehicles for the Warrior platform as we look to enhance it for the future and boost the Army’s capabilities.

“We are contributing to the cross-government review of national security capabilities and looking at how we best spend our rising defence budget to protect our country in the face of intensifying threats, but any discussion of the options is pure speculation.”