Projects were delayed by a total of 30 months

1.6  The 13 projects, for which overall time performance can be reported, showed a combined slip of 30 months (average two months per project) against approved in-service dates (27 months in 2010).

1.7  Two projects, Specialist Vehicles and the Joint Combat Aircraft projects, are excluded from the analysis as they do not yet have approved in-service dates. Specialist Vehicles currently only has an assumed date for service entry, which has been deferred by nine months during 2010-11; and the Joint Combat Aircraft is being approved in stages. Therefore, we are unable to report on the progress of these projects towards their entry-into-service dates and, therefore, they are not subject to the same level of Parliamentary scrutiny as the other projects.

1.8  Figure 4 shows the in-year time variation for each of the 15 post-main- gate projects.

1.9  In-year, the Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle project reported a 12-month slip, of which ten months was due to the contractor failing to deliver against the agreed schedule. The Department has since renegotiated the contract with industry ensuring that support for operations is maintained at no extra cost.

1.10  The Astute Class submarine programme met its in-service date for boat one in April 2010 - three months earlier than forecast in Major Projects Report 2010. Astute boat four, however, was deferred by 13 months to extend construction times for the Astute submarines. This delay was to avoid a gap in submarine production, caused by a Government decision to delay building the next class of submarines. See Part Three for further details.

1.11  Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers reported a five-month slip against schedule following an independent review of the programme in July 2010. The Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile project slipped three months against schedule because of a supplier design change.