Recommendation 21

The Department told us that an internal audit at Thales in January 2019 declared that it would be very late delivering the programme. As a result, the Department does not expect Crowsnest to achieve initial operating capability until September 2021. The Department told us that the problems arose because the industry consortium had underestimated the technical risk from the outset and had under-resourced the programme. These problems had been compounded by a “can-do” attitude within industry and a misplaced belief that it could catch up. As a result, Crowsnest will be delivered some 18 months later than planned.50 45 Q 26; Ministry of Defence letter to the Chair, 8 October 2020; C&AG’s Report, para. 1.16 46 Qq 24–25 47 Qq 26–28; Ministry of Defence letter to the Chair, 8 October 2020; C&AG’s Report, para. 8 48 Q 15; C&AG’s Report, para. 2.2 49 Q 32; C&AG’s Report, para. 2.3 50 Qq 29–32; C&AG’s Report, paras. 2.4 and 2.7 14 Delivering carrier strike