Defence

The Ministry of Defence is responsible for maintaining the effectiveness of the United Kingdom’s armed forces. Its aims are to produce battle winning people and equipment that are: “fit for today; ready for the tasks of tomorrow; and capable of building for the future”. The Department’s key roles are to:

• Defend the United Kingdom and its interests;
• Strengthen international peace and stability.

The National Audit Office’s work on the area of Defence includes a financial audit of this complex Department which holds approximately £90 billion fixed assets and manages an annual budget of nearly £34 billion.

We also undertake a number of reports assessing the value for money of the Ministry of Defence’s spending. This work covers the Department’s ability to support current operations, and its maintenance and development of military capabilities to meet future requirements. We focus on aspects of operational effectiveness, support for Armed Forces’ personnel, major equipment acquisitions, and underpinning infrastructure such as the Defence Estate and business change programmes.

Recent reports have looked at the Chinook helicopter fleet; Hercules C-130s, logistics arrangements for fast jets, recruitment and retention, the use of Reserve Forces and the Defence Information Infrastructure.

Feature

Support to High Intensity Operations

Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan present real difficulties for United Kingdom (UK) forces. They also present major support challenges for the Ministry of Defence (MOD). We look at four key areas of the support provided to operations by the MOD: equipment, logistics, pre-deployment training and support to personnel in-theatre.

Read full article: Support to High Intensity Operations

Service Families Accommodation

The Ministry of Defence provides accommodation for Service personnel and their families as a condition of service, and to meet its operational requirements, most notably the need for Service personnel to be mobile. The Ministry of Defence has over 50,000 properties across the United Kingdom, providing housing for around 42,000 Service personnel and their families.

Read full article: Service Families Accommodation

Chinook Mk3 helicopters

The Ministry of Defence (the Department) operates a fleet of 40 Chinook Mk2/2a helicopters, primarily in support of Army and special operations. In 1995 the Department ordered 14 Chinook Mk2a helicopters of which six were retained. The other eight were modified as Mk3 to meet a requirement for dedicated helicopters for special operations. The Department took delivery of these in December 2001.

Read full article: Chinook Mk3 helicopters

Defence Project Management Conference 2005 - Achieving Project Foresight

On 19-20 October 2005, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in partnership with the National Audit Office held a conference on driving the successful delivery of major defence projects.

Defence Project Management Conference details (PDF 264 kb)