Originally Posted by
josephfeatherweight
Junior, I reckon the sharing of crew could occur with a bit of planning and forethought - and would benefit all.
The training facilities (simulator) could definitely be shared, again with planning and forethought.
Parts/maintenance sharing would potentially be problematic as I understand the Surveillance aircraft vs VIP aircraft would be on different airworthiness/maintenance regimes - but that could have been resolved/worked around with some effort also.
There could be one way crew swaps. The time required to get appropriate security requirements and doctrinal stuff sorted the other way would be problematic at best.
Sim is probably the biggest aspect, to my knowledge neither A/C is getting one.
The thing with this, like everything in defence related acquisition is those that know know and won’t say a word, and those who don’t usually don’t have the information to arrive at the “right” decision.
Either way, it sure does look like a nice jet!