Reply to post: Re: Not completely stupid

Re: Not completely stupid

Not to mention having no aircraft to do long endurance maritime patrols until the Boeing order is completed.

Given a free hand, I'd have David Cameron publicly hanged for that decision alone. And I'd take the family along with a picnic, make a day out of the event, and explain to the kids why the pudgy faced toff is going to dangle.

A big part of the tragedy of Nimrod MRA4 is the persistent inability of MoD to consider as separate weapons systems and platforms. This applies to armoured vehicles, ships, subs, and all combat aircraft. So in 2010 we were still bashing out Comet airframes by hand to a design concept that was not far removed from state of the art in 1949 (when the Comet first flew). And because of that foolhardy decision, vast costs were incurred trying to completely modernise a layout that had been outmoded since the 707 first flew in 1958 (edit: 1957, Boeing 367). And because the original engines were so ancient, they had to throw money at trying to get brand new modern engines for this 1940s engine-in-wing design. Sadly, this was a re-run of the similar debacle platform + avionics bungle during the embarrassing failure of the Nimrod AEW3 project.

I suspect if MoD had treated the avionics that went into MRA4 as a standalone project to fit in a modern airline airframe, the outcome would have been different. Our expertise in sub-hunting was world class, and the challenges of the MRA4 avionics could have been addressed appropriately. A suitable airframe would perhaps be a load of ex-airline, relatively low hours A319s, and the installation challenges and costs would have been far more controllable. We'd also have built an exportable product, whereas nobody in their right mind would invest in the Nimrod (and the necessary specialist support infrastructure).

I mentioned some great British aircraft. Sadly the Comet, whilst innovative, was not really part of that group, and you have to ask yourself why the British government has persistently scrapped good and useful projects, and then continued with the Nimrod airframe. My teenage son could make a better job of military procurement than the combination of politicians, civil service and the military.