Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 15
Twenty-Third Report - Delivering carrier strike
Published 13 Nov 2020
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Delivering carrier strike All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Department told us that its intention to buy 138 aircraft was based on its original plan that there would always be four operational squadrons and both carriers operating. The 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Reviews altered this expectation, and the Department now regards Carrier Strike’s full operating capability as being two UK Lightning II squadrons (up to 24 jets) operating from one of the carriers. It aims to achieve this by the end of 2023. The Department assured us that having 48 aircraft by 2025– 26 would be adequate to deliver two squadrons in normal circumstances.39 However, it acknowledged that the attrition rate in a high-intensity war would mean it could not sustain two squadrons, which would very much reduce a carrier’s utility.40
From: Public Accounts Committee, Twenty-Third Report - Delivering carrier strike (HC 684), 13 November 2020
Government response
A response document is linked to this report, dated 4 February 2021. Response attribution to this conclusion has not been verified. Read the response document ↗