Dominic Cummings is seeking to launch a review of Ministry of Defence spending and strategy next year, after concerns that the department has been wasting billions on misjudged procurement.

The anticipated review from Boris Johnson’s most influential aide comes amid expectations of a wider revamp of Whitehall operations and after he singled out the £6.2bn decision to build two new aircraft carriers as continuing to “squander billions of pounds”.

Although details remained sketchy, the prime minister’s spokesman confirmed the plans to hold the review: “As the PM announced during the election campaign, the government will undertake a new integrated foreign policy, security and defence review which will extend from the armed forces to the intelligence services, counter-terrorism, serious organised crime, diplomacy and development.

“This will ensure we are making the best use of spending to ensure all our security forces are ahead of hostile powers, terrorists and organised crime.”

Whitehall insiders said that the Cummings view has long been held by Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, reflecting a belief that the capability of Britain’s armed services does not reflect the £39bn a year that is spent on them. “Russia gets better value for money than we do,” one said.

The exact status of the defence review is as yet unclear – although a wider comprehensive spending review (CSR) is due in 2020 after a multi-year round was deferred to allow for the general election.

Details of the defence review had not been immediately briefed to MoD officials, who said that reports about it could only be described as speculation. Its existence is likely to worry service chiefs.

There has been particular concern at the heart of Whitehall about the Royal Navy, which has only just overseen a decade-long programme to build two new aircraft carriers – one more than Russia or France – which many believe are militarily inefficient.

The first of the two ships, the Queen Elizabeth, was off the coast of Florida in October, testing with British F-35 jets for the first time, while the second, the Prince of Wales, sailed into Portsmouth last month for the first time after completing its first sea trials.

But in September, the MoD won a real-terms increase in its budget from Johnson, with core spending up by 3.4% to £39.3bn, a reminder that the defence lobby remains powerful in Whitehall.

A post on Cummings’s blog in March described the procurement process as a farce that “has continued to squander billions of pounds, enriching some of the worst corporate looters and corrupting public life via the revolving door of officials/lobbyists”.

The then future Downing Street aide continued: “A teenager will be able to deploy a drone from their smartphone to sink one of these multibillion-dollar platforms. Such a teenager could already take out the stage of a Downing Street photo op with a little imagination and initiative, as I wrote about years ago.”

Such comments almost certainly exaggerate the capability of current drone technology, but many military analysts consider that aircraft carriers are, in effect, floating targets for an enemy state, and to deploy them effectively they need a small fleet of smaller supporting ships, which only adds to the cost.

The decision to build two was taken early under Gordon Brown’s premiership, partly to safeguard shipbuilding in Scotland, in Rosyth in Fife and at Govan on the Clyde, although at the time some Labour insiders argued that one would be enough, or that they could be shared with the France.

Tom Tugendhat, a Tory MP and former chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, told the BBC: “There’s a real issue with defence – we know that an organisation that spends £42bn and has got issues with availability of ships, aircraft and equipment really does need a shake-up.”

Another Whitehall reform being considered is whether to merge the Department of International Development, responsible for £10bn of spending in overseas aid, with the Foreign Office.