It seems someone values them
A source on the team that was supposed to be scrapping the aircraft last night told me:
[i]“The Ministry of Defence has accepted a joint bid from Raytheon USA/Bombardier. This will involve us making the aircraft flyable again to go over to the States. The rumoured end customer is the U.S. Army.”
It is understood that much of the systems had already been stripped out in preparation for scrapping. When I asked what work is being done on them in the UK, I was told:
“Work has started to make them serviceable for flight already. Just enough to get them over the pond. Nothing to do with the mission side.”
It’s reasonable to assume that work will be done in the United States to provide new/updated mission systems.
The move is somewhat controversial as the Ministry of Defence previously advise that the aircraft were to be sold for scrap and “not for reuse”. According to the Ministry of Defence in a potential sales notice last year:
“The Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA) is inviting expressions of interest from Companies interested in being considered for receiving an Invitation to Tender (ITT) in respect of the proposed sale of the aircraft for stripping so to harvest all reusable parts for potential resale, recycling or disposal and final dismantling and removal of the remaining platforms. Note these aircraft are not for reuse.“
It would seem the Ministry of Defence have changed their minds on that last point.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/brit...eing-scrapped/