Recommendation 22

The Department acknowledged that it has, on occasion, prioritised short-term affordability over value for money in the F-35 programme, to keep within its overall departmental budget.46 Notably, in 2021 the Department took the decision to delay investment in the Air Signature Assessment Facility (ASAF). Although this decision saved £82 million in the short-term out to 2024–25, it will have cost the Department £16 million more than that by 2031–32 because of inflation resulting from choosing to build later. The Department viewed this as a “conventional consequence” of managing an annual departmental budget covering many programmes.47