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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/billions-added-to-raf-typhoons-bill.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Typhoons could potentially be used to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/min-billions-added-to-raf-typhoons-bill.jpg" alt="Typhoons could potentially be used to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya"/></a></p>
<p>Billions of pounds have been added to the bill for Typhoon fighter jets due to bad planning and &#8220;over-optimism&#8221; at the Ministry of Defence, a spending watchdog has said.</p>
<p>Some 232 of the planes were originally ordered by the British government in the mid-1980s. That number has since been reduced by 72, but the development and production costs have risen by a fifth to £20.2 billion, and support costs have also gone up.</p>
<p>Altogether the National Audit Office (NAO) estimates that each individual aircraft is 75% &#8211; or £55 million &#8211; more expensive than originally anticipated and the total programme cost will eventually hit £37 billion.</p>
<p>The joint management deal with Germany, Italy and Spain has resulted in problems obtaining spares and meant the RAF has had problems fully training pilots.</p>
<p>While Typhoons are performing well in air-to-air missions &#8211; which could potentially include enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya &#8211; £564 million of work on adapting the jets for ground attacks is unlikely to be complete until 2018, according to the report.</p>
<p>NAO head Amyas Morse said: &#8220;The Typhoon is currently performing important operational tasks but the full multi-role capability won&#8217;t be available for a number of years.</p>
<p>&#8220;Until this happens the MoD will not have secured value for money from its over £20 billion investment in Typhoon. MoD has put some of the building blocks in place to enable this to happen. But difficult and deep-rooted problems remain to be overcome.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our examination has shown that key investment decisions were taken on an over-optimistic basis; the project suffered from corporate decisions to try to balance the defence budget; and the department did not predict the substantial rate at which costs would rise. None of this suggests good cost control, a key determinant of value for money.&#8221;</p>
<p>Defence Equipment Minister Peter Luff said the MoD and the Eurofighter consortium had learnt from past problems with the programme and that improvements had been made.</p>
<p>&#8220;The Defence Secretary has announced reforms to prevent future delays and cost overruns in Defence procurement, ensuring our armed forces are properly equipped and tax-payers get value for money,&#8221; he said.</p>
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