RAF wants a new £2bn aircraft fleet

[blackthorn]

After scrapping the perfectly good updated Nimrods, someones noticed that we dont have any ASW cover. We might have to buy the P8 which is ok but we had something in place already. What a waste of money, no logic to it at all.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/incoming/raf...rcraft-5545908

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by blackthorn

After scrapping the perfectly good updated Nimrods, someones noticed that we dont have any ASW cover. We might have to buy the P8 which is ok but we had something in place already. What a waste of money, no logic to it at all.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/incoming/raf...rcraft-5545908

No logic to it? The Nimrods, while they were versatile planes, and while they had been refitted and upgrade, they were over 40 years old.

Do you really want to trust our country's defence to a plane with a 40 year old airframe?

It may even be *cheaper* to replace it due to increasing maintenance costs.

[Taf]

I loved going on Nimrod sorties, but even the crews were getting a bit worried over their serviceability and safety.

[Pierre]

The nimrods airframe was based on the Comet, the first ever jet airliner, so well more than 40 years old. Try 65.

[techguyone]

I don't mind losing an old aircraft type - I do mind that they were happy to not replace it with anything, clearly it was there for a reason...

Never mind, we could buy a whole fleet with the 12 Billion Foreign Corruption fund - and it would be money spent well for a change.

[Taf]

Satellites have replaced Nimrod in the main, the Search and Rescue role went to the few choppers we still have.

But what of the submarine hunter/killer role?

[rhyds]

The problem with the Nimrods was that they were not straightforward to upgrade. Due to the vagaries of their original construction, the upgraded parts had to be custom made for each individual aircraft.

[Osem]

They were a money pit over the years.

[heero_yuy]

We should have bought AWACS when we had the chance, instead the morons at the MOD trusted Marconi (GEC) to do a new radar which they made such a bog of that the whole thing ended up as a fiasco costing £billions.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Pierre

The nimrods airframe was based on the Comet, the first ever jet airliner, so well more than 40 years old. Try 65.

I was thinking more of the manufacturing date rather than the design.

[Uncle Peter]

The decision to scrap MRA4 without a replacement wasn't far short of criminal negligence and we are now in a position where the Americans are bailing us out by sending a few reserve P3 Orions to Scotland to protect the coastal waters around our installations.

All well and good pitching to buy P8 Poseidons or the Japanese Kawasaki P1's but surface wise for ASW capability we only have the Type 23 which is a noisy old ship more than a generation away from where it needs to be to counter advances in submarine quietening technology.

Yet again we'll be left with a void approaching a decade where our shores are not suitably defended.

[Osem]

It's a recurring theme isn't it - flawed strategic planning, short termism and ineptitude. We've seen it with the latest aircraft carriers, failed IT projects (numerous times), unsuitable helicopters, the BBC, etc. etc.

That's why I'd like to hear less about how much more our glorious leaders are going to spend on us (to buy our votes) and more about how they're going to get better value for the money they already take in tax. I'm sick and tired of being told they're going to chuck more money at this that or the other when we all know so much of it will be wasted in one way or another.

http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...iversal-credit

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...ds-system-10bn

Failed Labour NHS project cost £10bn and rising...

[Taf]

It would seem that, as usual, people with no knowledge or experience are being allowed to make huge financial decisions. Led by the nose by slick sales staff and "interested parties" out to make a quick buck. "Forethought and planning?" Don't make me laugh.

[rhyds]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

We should have bought AWACS when we had the chance, instead the morons at the MOD trusted Marconi (GEC) to do a new radar which they made such a bog of that the whole thing ended up as a fiasco costing £billions.

I remember the uproar when Marconi went bust (mainly due to BT not using them for the 21cn IIRC). What nobody mentioned was that Marconi had been treating BT like a money tree for years until they'd finally had enough.