MPs lash out at ‘flawed’ decision on carrier jets

By GAVIN CORDON
Published 5th Feb 2013, 00:00 BST
THE Ministry of Defence was strongly criticised by MPs yesterday over the “flawed” decision to switch fighter aircraft for the Royal Navy’s new carriers.

THE Ministry of Defence was strongly criticised by MPs yesterday over the “flawed” decision to switch fighter aircraft for the Royal Navy’s new carriers.

It was announced in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review that the government would adopt the carrier variant of the US-built F35 Joint Strike Fighter, rather than the “jump-jet” version chosen by the previous Labour government.

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Ministers argued the carrier variant was a more capable aircraft and would increase “interoperability” with other navies – even though it meant mothballing one of the two carriers on grounds of affordability.