Security News > 2021 > January > Ministry of Defence's cyber warfare drive is helping burn a hole through its budget, warns UK's National Audit Office
The Ministry of Defence's multibillion budget overrun has been caused in part because of its spending splurge on flashy new "Cyber" capabilities, according to the National Audit Office.
The MoD faces a budget black hole measured in billions thanks to its profligacy - and even the announcement of a cash top-up of £4bn per year between now and 2024, on top of its £41.2bn annual budget, won't be enough to plug it, according to the auditors.
Defence officials managed, said the NAO, to spend "£2.1bn of additional costs in Strategic Command's equipment programme, reflecting £1.1bn of new investments to fill capability gaps.
" On top of that, the MoD's desire to "Strengthen cyber capabilities" combined with plans to enhance "Global connectivity" resulted in "£1.1bn of cost growth".
While this year's budget included £141m for "Critical capability risks" including the NCF, the MoD still insisted that "Additional funding would be needed to develop military capabilities such as its cyber resilience".
This focus on "Cyber" regardless of budget constraints even led some crafty Army officers to suggest cutting tanks in favour of cyber regiments, something that may have been tongue in cheek - or a political move to protect Britain's decrepit heavy tank units from the beancounters' pen.