Originally Posted by
downsizer
Are you sure? That is entirely contrary to my recollection! Can you provide any link or evidence? Genuine question, not trolling....
I wish I could, but unfortunately I'm not one of those people who keeps copies of company/customer documents in boxes in the loft at home. The Harrier stuff is all filed away in deep archives or deleted now. I'm pretty sure about my recollection because (as I said) it embarrassed the MP who visited, showing that he had been misbriefed.
Misbriefings after the 2010 SDSR were pretty common. If you dig into Hansard you'll find a PPS to a junior defence minister talking in the House about MRA4 saying "To be honest we're still wondering if it was ever going to fly!", which must have come as a bit of a shock to those who had flown them through hindreds of hours of development test flying, never mind the detail that at the time it was less than three months to the delivery of the first three aircraft...
PDR