Government accused of ‘gross strategic error’ in running down military supplies

ordering finite amounts of key equipment such as the NLAW missiles used to target Russian tanks in Ukraine – rather than longer term contracts to ensure a ready supply.

The current approach – described by Lord Houghton as a “gross strategic error” – is now being urgently reviewed by senior ministers. In a recent interview with this newspaper, Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, said the Government should be “trying to work with our defence industries to line up longer runs in production”, adding that such an approach would require committing funding over several years.

The Telegraph understands that one commonly used munition – a 155mm artillery shell – which sources said was in “desperately short supply”, can only be produced by one machine in the UK.

Andrew Kinniburgh, the director-general of Make UK Defence, one of two major industry bodies for defence firms, said: “We are still struggling to get the Government to realise that, in terms of industrial capacity, if they don’t use it, they’ll lose it ... if there is no demand the defence industry will simply let that capability wither on the vine.”

He described NLAWs as “a great example of where there were no orders for years and, as a result, the production lines were effectively shut down”.

In another case, Mr Kinniburgh said, the UK “didn’t spend a penny on armoured vehicles for years” so “when it came to buying the much delayed Ajax vehicles we had to use a Spanish-designed vehicle as the base platform”.

Last night, in the latest hardware setback for the military, the Navy announced that its aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth was unable to take part in Nato duties from yesterday due to a problem with a starboard propeller shaft.

An MoD spokesman said: “We are spending more than £50 billion on defence this year alone, and have significantly increased our spending on defence equipment to £288.6 billion over the next decade.”