The damning evidence of faulty decision-making and lack of foresight on the part of the Ministry of Defence in the way it handled the Chinook helicopter saga has undermined the Government’s efforts to bring equipment procurement under control.

The history of MoD equipment-buying is littered with examples of waste, runaway costs and delays, and the Chinook Mk3 programme is one of the most embarrassing cases, where a vitally needed asset for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has been left on the shelf, unflyable and undeployable.

The second report on the Chinooks in four years by the National Audit Office has only highlighted how even in a period when the defence budget has been hard-pressed to cope with rising equipment costs, key decisions have been taken that have added to the financial burden. Now, after years of procurement disasters, the MoD is facing what one senior defence official described as “a train crash”, with too many projects in the pipeline and insufficient funds to pay for them.

The MoD is currently carrying out a review of all its equipment programmes, with the exception of the project to build two large aircraft carriers, which the Government has said will go ahead. The contract for the 65,000-tonne carriers is expected to be announced soon.

There remain in the equipment programme a number of projects that are already overdue and rising in cost. They include the Nimrod MRA4 maritime, reconnaissance and attack aircraft that is replacing the ageing Nimrod MR2s, one of which exploded in mid-air over Afghanistan in September 2006, killing all 14 on board. The new Nimrods should already be in service, but the programme has suffered delays because of technical difficulties.

The new Astute class nuclear-powered submarines, replacing the Swiftsure class boats, are also late and overcost.

The programmes now under the microscope include the Army’s Fres (future rapid effect system) armoured vehicles, which could cost at least £14 billion, the £1 billion Super Lynx helicopter, the Fist project aimed at making soldiers more high-tech in battle, and the third phase of the £20 billion Typhoon/Eurofighter aircraft deal.

The Joint Strike Fighter, developed jointly by the US and Britain, is expected to be at least two years late, which means that the first of the Navy’s new carriers, due in service in 2014, will have to be armed with Harrier GR9s.

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