This suggestion comes from the TaxPayers' Alliance/ Institute of
Directors report on saving £50 billion. For a PDF of the full report
(including footnotes for claims made below) click here.
This saving of £740m pa is based on the estimate
produced by the think tank Reform, who made the same suggestion.
Reform found that the Eurofighter
Tranche 3 and planned upgrades would cost a total of £8 billion over nine
years, or £888 million annually. We
have reduced Reform’s annual savings figure to allow for the Government’s
subsequent commitment to buy an additional 40 Eurofighters under the so-called
Tranche 3a.
The remaining scope for savings
comprises 48 further planes slated for Tranche 3b, plus the currently planned
upgrade programme.
The Eurofighter was conceived during the
Cold War to combat the Soviet air force. It is wholly unsuited to the demands of current conflicts
such as that in Afghanistan. The
US government is making similar decisions, with the Senate voting in July to
cancel further orders for the F-22 fighter jet, which, like the Eurofighter,
was designed in the late 1980s for cold-war operations. The UK already has 34 Eurofighter
Typhoons in service,now with a
further 40 on the way under Tranche 3a, and we cannot afford to buy 48 more and
pay for further upgrades.
Savings id: Halt further orders and upgrades for the Eurofighter.
Department: MoD
Annual saving: £740m
***
Previous idea for saving: (19) Ed Balls' proposals for reductions in the number of education workers and consolidation of school leadership.
