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Single fleet plan to serve the services

16th July 1998, Page 6
16th July 1998
Page 6
Page 6, 16th July 1998 — Single fleet plan to serve the services
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

by Karen Miles • As part of the Government's strategic defence review a single transport and storage agency will be created to handle all freight, weapons and explosives for the army, navy and air force—possibly leading to privatisation.

The combined services fleet will bring together tens of thousands of drivers and trucks, cutting costs and allowing the Ministry of Defence to explore contracting out.

Defence Secretary George Robertston has appointed Lieutenant-General Sir Sam Cowan—currently the army's Quartermaster-General—as chief of defence logistics to "properly co-ordinate and stan

dardise our three support services for the first time".

The merger follows a proposal in the mid-1990s to privatise the haulage of all freight for the armed forces, including nonnuclear weapons and explosives (CM 24-30 Aug 1995). That move was aborted in 1996 when MoD officials decided the leap from three separate in-house organisations to a single outsider-run operation was too large to consider. The new plan could serve as a half-way house.

The vast bulk of MoD provisions and ammunition are carried by its own vehicles. However, last year food distribution in the UK was handed over from the NAAFI to the Booker Foodservice group.


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