A couple of articles in the winter issue of Line of Defence about the P-8A acquisition. Note that in the
Ron Mark article he is now satisfied with the robustness and state of the defence procurement system. he says:
"They have overhauled their practices and now have a well-resourced team who can be considered an exemplar for the public sector. What this means for me is that when I take a proposal to Cabinet, which recommends the purchase of a major capability, I can assure them we have a robust plan to deliver the project, on time, to specifications, within budget and that the equipment we have purchased will be right for the job."
He also said that the P-8A acquisition decision will be made soon and that the new DCP is due to be completed by the end of this year.We know that he took the P-8A paper to Cabinet last week and IIRC Cabinet meets today. I don't think that we'll get a decision today but maybe next week at the earliest.
The second
article is by Mark Mitchell who was the preceding MinDef and now National Party (the main Parliamentary opposition) spokesperson for Defence. In his article he states that he was MinDef he was told by the US that last calls are being made for P-8A orders.
Note that both of these articles have been written by pollies, so there is definitely a political slant to them.