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

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 17:10 EDT, 19 September 2026 | Updated: 17:13 EDT, 19 September 2026 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.Officials admitted to £1.23billion of losses across 17,622 separate cases in 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.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.Another £254million was lost when the MoD pulled the plug in 2025 on an upgrade of the RAF's secretive Shadow spy planes.The Mk2 programme was axed after repeated delays and what the department called unacceptable cost escalation.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.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. 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 flightDemolishing 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.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.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.'Ministers should get a grip on waste inside the department.'An MoD spokesman said: 'We continually review our programmes and assets to ensure they are delivering the capabilities our armed forces need.'Accounting write-offs do not necessarily represent cash losses.'