Originally Posted by
Jackonicko
1) Crisis may be a bit strong, but they've struggled to fully man No.IX Squadron, I gather, and I also understand that there's a shortfall of pilots across the force. I don't know if that's down primarily to retention, or to the output from Ascent.
2) The US COCO adversary solutions all use ancient aircraft types and have an over-reliance on the Experimental certification/registration process. It's unlikely that such solutions would meet UK airworthiness standards, while there would not seem to be a sustainable source of aircraft that will meet both the requirement AND the likely cost constraints. Isn't that why ASDOT died a death in the first place?
I heard an eye-watering hourly cost figure for even HHA's Hawker Hunters - if accurate it's hard to see how owned and amortised Hawk T1s would work out more expensive.
1. The Typhoon Force is fully manned.
2. Your assertion that any COCO solution is going to be unable to meet UK airworthiness standards is incorrect. The requirement hasn’t even been written. The contract hasn’t even gone out to tender, so how do you know what platform solution would be selected by any company wishing to bid for the contract? There are platforms out there which would more than meet UK airworthiness standards. The issue doesn’t lie with the companies bidding for the contract, the problem lies with the MoD and how much they think they can get a solution for.
The MoD started out offering £750 million for ASDOT, then slashed the offering to circa £450 million, but said they wanted the same solution. That’s simply never going to happen.
As far as airworthiness goes and the Tatty Ton, I’d be a bit careful there.