Select committee: Defence Committee
Recommendation 8
Tenth Report - Aviation Procurement: Winging it?
Published 10 Sep 2023
Paragraph 58
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee Aviation Procurement All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Of all of the Defence Command Paper’s cuts, the decision to reduce the UK’s Wedgetail E-7 fleet from five to three aircraft stands out as the most perverse, with the fleet cut by 40% for an acquisition saving of just 12%. Moreover, our witnesses told us that three aircraft will simply not be sufficient to meet the UK’s commitment to NATO and our own sovereign needs. The MoD has committed almost £2 billion for a fleet of aircraft that, due to its reduced size, will be unable to meet the basic capability requirement. The MoD should set out in its response to this report what discussions it has had with NATO regarding the UK’s Airborne Early Warning & Control obligations to the Alliance. The decision to reduce the Wedgetail fleet must be revisited at the earliest possible opportunity with a renewed commitment to a fleet of at least five aircraft.
From: Defence Committee, Tenth Report - Aviation Procurement: Winging it? (HC 178), paragraph 58, 10 September 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 November 2023 (deadline 10 November 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Ministry of Defence "rejects the Committee's central assertion" that the UK's air capability leaves it "dangerously exposed", while responding to individual recommendations with a mix of acknowledgement, explanation and conditional commitments.
- On the F-35, the government will "consider again in the mid-2020s the F-35 fleet size as part of the next Strategic Defence Review", including the best variant (A or B). It acknowledges concerns on technician numbers but rejects that the shortfall was "inexcusable".
- On Tranche 1 Typhoons, it does not support mothballing: retaining them would need investment "in excess of £300 million (and potentially much more)" and would preclude planned component harvesting.
- On Wedgetail, it "accept[s] there is some increased risk" to sovereign and NATO commitments from cutting the fleet from five to three aircraft, but says this was factored in. It will "keep decisions on the appropriate size of our force under review".
- On reporting, it "would be happy to provide" updates on A400M availability and pilot holding numbers "if the committee would find such an update useful". It does not commit to a full review of flying training contracts, citing "limited benefit", but is conducting a "targeted review" of incentive structures.