Navy carriers ‘pointless’ due to penny pinching, say MPS

THE Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers lack purpose because “penny pinching” means there are not enough jets and support ships, the Commons’ spending watchdog has said.

Ministers were accused by the public accounts committee of a “debilitating lack of clarity” about what they want the £6.4 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales to achieve.

It comes after the National Audit Office (NAO) said in June that the carriers could become nothing more than “very expensive toys” due to a lack of support fleet.

Meanwhile, the PAC said that the carriers’ Crowsnest airborne radar and surveillance system, which monitors the skies, land and sea around the Navy’s aircraft carriers, was running 18 months late and would leave them with “less protection than planned”.

It also agreed with the NAO that there was a lack of support vessels to supply the carriers and an uncertainty around how many Lightning II jets will now be needed.

The UK has so far ordered 48 Lightning II jets, far less than its original intention to purchase 138, although its assumptions on how the carriers will be used have changed since then.

The cross-party committee said that the Ministry of Defence’s “failure to fund several key supporting capabilities will restrict how it can use the carriers for many years”. Highlighting problems with the carrier strike programme, the committee said that the Crowsnest delay was due to “poor contractor performance and inadequate departmental oversight”.

“The department also lacks the support ships it needs to supply the carriers,” the MPS said.

An MOD spokesman said the committee and the NAO had recognised that “considerable progress” had been made since their last reports in 2017.

“Carrier strike is a complex challenge which relies on a mix of capabilities and platforms. We remain committed to investing in this capability.”