Recommendation 3

The Department still does not fully understand Carrier Strike’s support and operating requirements or costs. In 2018, we highlighted that the Department must develop detailed estimates of the costs of supporting and operating Carrier Strike. This is even more important now as the defence budget is likely to come under increasing strain in future years. The Department based its initial assessment 6 Delivering carrier strike of support and operating costs—such as fuel and spare parts—on estimates and has started to update these using information from its sea trials. However, it says that it needs more time to develop better estimates, with the deployment in 2021 providing a crucial opportunity to improve its understanding of what it takes to run a carrier strike group. The Department acknowledges that it has scaled back investment on support activities on affordability grounds, such as postponing buying a second Lightning II spares pack, and tells us that the situation is tight. As a result, it cannot assure us that it has enough funding to meet future support and operating costs. Recommendation: The Department should collect full information on the costs of operating a carrier strike group during its 2021 deployment. This is a crucial opportunity to develop its understanding of consumption issues and the level of spares it needs. The Department should be prepared to set out its findings at a future evidence session with the Committee and be able to demonstrate that it has a better grip of future support and operating costs.