British procurement cuts and lost naval careers

With better UK defence procurement management in the 1990s, where might the armed forces have been better equipped?

The proposed changes are to build more ships after paying their development costs, retain more escorts and career opportunities, and buy proven equipment such as CV90 where it meets the requirement.

The Type 45 example concerns paying for development and the first six ships, then cancelling later ships expected to be cheaper. A hypothetical fleet of twelve destroyers and twelve retained Type 23 frigates would offer 24 ship commands and matching executive-officer and senior-chief posts, compared with the thirteen escorts cited in the discussion. More posts would give personnel better promotion prospects and reduce the incentive to leave early. Boxer illustrates the cost of leaving a programme and later buying its product. For the Army, the proposed alternative is to buy the established CV90 rather than develop Ajax.