The Ministry of Defence has cancelled the second phase of Project Guardian, a Royal Air Force command and control system developed to protect British and NATO airspace, writing off £9.476 million in a constructive loss recorded in its annual report and accounts, according to a written answer.

Luke Pollard, Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry, was responding to Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative MP for Huntingdon, who had asked for further information on the loss disclosed in the Ministry of Defence annual report and accounts for 2025 to 2026.

Mr Pollard said: “Project GUARDIAN is a Royal Air Force advanced Command and Control system developed to protect UK and NATO airspace. A strategic decision was taken to cancel the second phase of this system, UKV2.”

Setting out the reasoning, he said: “A number of factors led to the cancellation, including evolving capability requirements, the increased technical complexity in delivering a compliant solution and a wider reprioritisation of capabilities across the portfolio.”

He said: “The constructive loss reflects historical project costs for activities that had been undertaken during the Demonstration and Manufacture phase of the programme.”

A constructive loss

Constructive loss is the term used in government accounting for money spent on something that has produced no usable output, as distinct from a cash loss where funds have gone missing or a fruitless payment where a service was paid for and not received. Departments are required to disclose them in their annual accounts, which is where this figure came to light and why the question was asked.

Guardian

Guardian is the computer system behind the Recognised Air Picture, the real-time depiction of every aircraft in the airspace Britain controls or patrols, with each contact identified as friendly or hostile. It links the radars and radios of the United Kingdom and NATO, allows communication between the ground and aircraft, and enables the Royal Air Force to despatch fighters to identify, intercept and escort aircraft flown aggressively or suspected of being a threat.

The programme replaced the previous UKASACS Command and Control System, with IBM awarded a £60 million contract in April 2018 to develop and install it, carrying a further £20 million of costed options which would have taken the total to £80 million. Announcing it at the time, then Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said the system would give the Royal Air Force the upper hand in the face of rapidly changing and intensifying global threats.

Initial operating capability was declared at the Control and Reporting Centre at RAF Boulmer in Northumberland, with the system also installed at 78 Squadron at Swanwick in Hampshire. Defence Equipment and Support has said the two centres operate around the clock, with 50 dual workstations at Boulmer and 29 at Swanwick, which when fully manned could be staffed by more than 100 battlespace management personnel.

The original 2018 announcement also covered the replacement of systems at Royal Air Force bases in the Falkland Islands, where 1435 Flight holds quick reaction alert over the islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.