Proposals to hand over defence training to a private sector consortium, which would see the loss of 800 jobs at RAF Cosford, are hanging in the balance, a union leader said today.

He claimed the Ministry of Defence was getting cold feet about the project and warned youngsters could end up fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan ill-prepared for the realities of war if the scheme went ahead.

The controversy is over the national defence training review which could see armed services training taken over by a consortium called Metrix in a contract worth about £11 billion.

This would mean the jobs of 800 Cosford civilian trainers going to St Athan in South Wales and the future of the Shropshire base in doubt.

Preferred bidder status was granted to Metrix 18 months ago and an announcement is expected imminently from ministers.

But Robert “H” O’Harney, Cosford spokesman for the Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS), said today: “From what we are hearing, it’s all hanging in the balance.”

“Leaked documents from a recent meeting of the defence training review executive board show they are worried about potentially catastrophic risks on the frontline.

“And the claimed savings of £3 billion over 25 years are now revealed as just £400 million over 30 years, insignificant in terms of the overall defence budget.

“I believe the risks of privatisation are intolerable and it would not surprise me if ministers pulled the plug on this, leaving a lot of people with egg on their faces.”

The leaked documents, published in satirical magazine Private Eye, are said to list 15 significant risks.

The team, led by deputy chief of defence staff (personnel) Vice Admiral Peter Wilkinson, is said to be worried about the consortium’s “lack of military ethos” and that trainees will leave “ill-prepared for service in operational commands”.

Mr O’Harney said: “This confirms what union leaders and Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard have said all along. Privatisation would risk the lives of British soldiers and would not represent value for money.”

No-one was available from the MoD for comment.