Originally Posted by
sandiego89
Interesting stuff Tecumseh
So did 801 on Invincible have the better sets? Also seem to recall 801 had more recent work ups from the Alloy Express exercise, and was more tasked on the Air to Air side of things. Certain airframes seemed to be better than others with 004 in 801 being recalled as one of the more trouble free airframes.
Sorry, don't know that detail and I'll bow to people who were there. What I said would certainly explain different experiences and perceptions of Blue Fox in 1982. It is entirely possible a single squadron had four distinct build standards and performances, and it is also possible the maintainers didn't actually know this. It would not be in any pilot training. (Sea Spray in Lynx was the same - 3 distinct and non-interchangeable standards).
Development continued and upon return the kit was immediately upgraded with the 'jamming package' and the build standard settled down. This was related to performance under jamming, and was almost immediately the subject of an approved mid life upgrade (2 years into the service life!) termed ILIC/Anderwave. In Loop Interpretative (maybe Interactive) Control, and even better tracking in severe jamming.
The reason I recall this was the beancounters were all for suing Rank Brimar over the filters I mentioned, but I knew the history and adopted a more relaxed approach. Didn't want a p***** match that we would lose, when the aircraft were going to be without a radar in short order.
Reliability comes to mind. Blue Fox was WAY beyond any expectations. System MTBF was around five times that of Blue Parrot and the AWG series (Phantom). Different technologies of course, but indicative of the step changes that were happening at the time. But, I could never understand the RN approving a 15 year spares buy, after it started being withdrawn from service at 3 sets per month. That just used up the 'Sea Harrier radar' funding line, meaning Blue Vixen support was poor some some time.
I think the set that Ferranti kept may have been B8, as it was later used as the PDS rig. Never been to the factory since 93, so don't know if the new owners display it.