The Aporia · Revealed: MoD writes off £1.2billion in just one year on scrapped spy planes, warships and crashed drones

Revealed: MoD writes off £1.2billion in just one year on scrapped spy planes, warships and crashed drones

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Davis, M. (2026, September 19). Revealed: MoD writes off £1.2billion in just one year on scrapped spy planes, warships and crashed drones. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16144867/MoD-spy-planes-warships-crashed-drones.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

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Quick Summary

The Ministry of Defence in Britain reported writing off more than £1.2 billion in a single year on scrapped military projects, including upgrades for spy planes, radio systems, warships, and drones. Specific examples include losing £408 million from nuclear deterrent factory work and £254 million from the Shadow spy plane upgrade program. The MoD also incurred losses of £31.7 million from demolishing unwanted buildings and £6.2 million for dismantling a laboratory building at Porton Down. John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, criticized these figures as alarming evidence of waste within the department.

Written by AI on 2026-09-19, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In 2025, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in the UK wrote off over £1.2 billion across 17,622 separate cases, including scrapped spy planes and warships, failed projects, and lost drones. This includes a £408 million write-off for building work at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in Berkshire, and £254 million from canceling an RAF Shadow spy plane upgrade program due to delays and cost overruns. The Navy incurred a £46 million loss when decommissioning the frigate HMS Richmond. Additionally, projects like demolishing unwanted buildings cost £31.7 million, while a solar farm scheme was canceled for £5.8 million. TaxPayers' Alliance chief John O'Connell expressed concern over taxpayers being "appalled" by these losses, which total more than £3 billion over two years as the MoD seeks additional funding to rearm and modernize its forces.

Written for “UK Military Spending Write-offs” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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Al Jazeera

⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 46 claims Outlet record 60/100

“The articles describe different financial and material losses over distinct periods and contexts, not the same specific incident.”

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0 of 14 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

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withheld

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69/100

Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

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Matt Davis

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🔮 John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Taxpayers will be appalled that the MoD has written off more than £1.2billion in a single year. '

2026-09-19 · assertive framing · Revealed: MoD writes off £1.2billion in just one year on scrapped spy planes, warships and crashed drones

Also by Matt Davis

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2026-10-11 · Daily Mail

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Claims (14 extracted, 0 hedged)

- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source The Ministry of Defence has written off more than £1.2billion in just one year on scrapped spy plane upgrades, a failed radio system, decommissioned warships and crashed drones, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. asserted

Mail → see → Sunday

Officials admitted to £1.23billion of losses across 17,622 separate cases in 2025/26. asserted

Officials → admit → 2025/26

It follows write-offs of £1.9billion the previous year, meaning the department has lost more than £3billion in two years, as ministers plead for extra money to rearm. asserted

ministers → follow → money

Topping the list last year was £408million knocked off the value of building work at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, the Berkshire factory that makes warheads for Britain's nuclear deterrent. asserted

that → top → deterrent

Another £254million was lost when the MoD pulled the plug in 2025 on an upgrade of the RAF's secretive Shadow spy planes. asserted

MoD → lose → planes

The Mk2 programme was axed after repeated delays and what the department called unacceptable cost escalation. asserted

department → ax → what

Project Morpheus, the Army's long-delayed replacement for its Bowman battlefield radios, cost £236million to cancel after more than £690million had already been spent on it by 2023. asserted

690million → delay → 2023

The Navy took a £46million hit from taking the frigate HMS Richmond out of service, £11million on minehunter HMS Chiddingfold and £9.5million on retiring the casualty ship RFA Argus. asserted

Navy → take → ship

It cost the Royal Navy £46million to take HMS Richmond (pictured) out of service Pictured: 32 Regiment, The Royal Regiment of Artillery preparing the Eagle Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) for flight Demolishing unwanted buildings cost £31.7million, another £6.2million was spent knocking down a building at the Porton Down chemical weapons laboratory and £86million of half-built projects were written off. A scheme to build solar farms on the defence estate was cancelled at a cost of £5.8million, and a project to replace thermal imaging cameras and laser rangefinders was terminated for £8.3million. Among the equipment destroyed or lost was a £2.4million Resolute Valkyrie drone, two Eagle drones written off at £324,000 each and an underwater robot declared beyond economic repair at £674,000. asserted

drone → cost → 674,000

On top of the losses, the MoD made 7,080 special payments totalling £169million, including £48.5million compensation in historical cases of veterans sacked for being gay. asserted

MoD → make → veterans

John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Taxpayers will be appalled that the MoD has written off more than £1.2billion in a single year. ' asserted

MoD → say → year

Ministers should get a grip on waste inside the department.' asserted

Ministers → get → department

An MoD spokesman said: 'We continually review our programmes and assets to ensure they are delivering the capabilities our armed forces need. asserted

forces → say → capabilities

'Accounting write-offs do not necessarily represent cash losses.' asserted

offs → represent → losses

Revealed: MoD writes off £1.2billion in just one year on scrapped spy planes, warships and crashed drones

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Claims (14 extracted, 0 hedged)