Originally Posted by
Wensleydale
I wonder how much it costs just to change the name of an aircraft in all of the technical documents and drawings that come with it.....
Agreed. The Sea King ASaC Mk7 was AEW Mk7 'till the last minute, when the RN insisted it be changed. The time to decide was when the configuration control change to the Mk number was agreed. Same with the 'Cerberus' name for part of the mission system. Purely an internal marketing device, which nobody in MoD had heard of until just before ISD. Not quite blank cheque time, but still costly. Companies sit on programme delays without telling MoD, hoping something like this will come along to give them breathing space.