Adding national partners makes a joint aircraft programme harder to coordinate politically. A qualitative comparison treats two partners as easier to manage, three or four as still workable, and larger groups as more difficult, without offering a measured success formula. Proposed Treasury control of GCAP is criticised as direct intervention in another department's programme. There is also a reluctant counterargument: fewer changes of Chancellor might produce fewer redirections than frequent changes of Defence Minister. An alternative proposal would restore senior service officers' procurement responsibilities and their role in explaining requirements to ministers. Those officers could challenge incomplete press accounts before new fashions redirected ongoing work.
Notable Point · 1:37:08-1:41:02
Joint programmes and accountable service procurement
The governance argument weighs multinational coordination and Treasury intervention against restoring procurement responsibility to senior service officers.