# £100M defence cuts



## John A Silkstone (Sep 7, 2009)

The Government will cut the defence research budget by £100m next year as it seeks to cut costs despite the escalating conflict in Afghanistan. 

War on costs: the Government is to cut the defence research budget despite the escalating conflict in Afghanistan, pictured Photo: PA The Ministry of Defence will make £439m available for its science, innovation and technology budget in 2010-11, almost 20pc less than the £544m set aside for this year. The MoD has already cut research spending, with reductions of 7pc this year and last year. 

The Army has endured a bloody summer in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, where insurgents are increasingly using makeshift bombs, known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), to kill and wound NATO troops. 

Arms and the big-stick man Conservative MP Ben Wallace, whose parliamentary question to Quentin Davies, defence equipment minister, elicited the news of the budget cuts, said: "What is deadly dangerous about these cuts is that it is this budget which produces the research and development to keep our soldiers safer from IEDs on the ground, which develops the next generation of body armour and which helps keep both our defence industry and our armed forces competitive." 

The move will hurt companies like defence technology specialist Qinetiq, which is making around 400 people redundant in the UK this year as a result of the MoD's previous budget cuts. 

Mike Turner, chairman of the Defence Industries Council, said the cut was symptomatic of the scrabble to meet operational needs by borrowing against the future. 

"The Government has put in huge resources to ensure they are equipped for this conflict and rightly so, but there are consequences for the long term," he said. 

Separately, BAE Systems reportedly has until the end of the month to agree a plea bargain with the Serious Fraud Office or face a criminal trial over bribery allegations in South Africa, Tanzania and the Czech Republic. The plea bargain could result in a fine of tens of millions of pounds. 

BAE said: "Our view is that the interests of the company as well as all of its stakeholders, including the general public, are best served by allowing the ongoing investigations to run their course. The company is working with regulators towards that end and is providing access to people, information and premises whenever requested. It wholeheartedly supports a rigorous approach."


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