Devonport: Costs have ballooned on the refit facility

In its annual accounts the MoD admitted spending �287m building the Royal Navy's submarine refit centre at Devonport in Plymouth bigger than needed.

Millions were also wasted on a computer system, and radar for a plane that was subsequently taken out of service.

But Mr Hoon told Sky News's Sunday programme he was committed to "smart procurement" in an effort to stop expenditure on such projects that would not go into service.

Not 'wasteful'

"Some pieces of equipment, frankly, do not perform to the extent that they should," he said.

"But it is always better to scrap equipment before you spend huge amounts of money on it than it is to go ahead with a project knowing it is going to fail, which has actually been the weakness of procurement in the past in the MoD.

"We judge it is better to spend a small amount of money on a project, see whether it is successful and if it is not, not to go on spending money in a wasteful effort to get it right.

"That's the approach we now adopt in terms of smart procurement."

Mr Hoon was speaking after it was revealed the write-offs included �118m on a computerised inventory scheme which was scrapped before going into operation.

Future spending

And �77m was spent on the development of a new radar system for the Sea Harrier before it was decided the plane would be taken out of service.

The widely-welcomed decision to scrap Britain's stock of landmines has also cost the MoD some �985m.

Conservative defence spokesman Keith Simpson told the Sunday Telegraph: "This won't be lost on (Chancellor) Gordon Brown when he comes to open negotiations with the MoD about its future spending plans."

Last year's accounts revealed that design and construction delays at Devonport meant costs ballooned from �650m to �933m.

The Ministry of Defence will pay �849m, leaving taxpayers with a bill of at least an extra �199m.