Originally Posted by
t43562
Isn't there often a debate about how the armed forces want kit that works (e.g. from the US) rather than debugging some homegrown alternative? Isn't the price of 'homegrown' that you have to put up with all the problems till there's enough money to sort them out?
The problem with US equipment started many moons ago, buying the likes of the Phantom while an excellent aircraft meant a lack of work for our own indigenous aircraft manufactures who either shut up shop or were merged together, they also lost the techniclal know how and advances as they skipped a generation of development and the teams went their own way. Without that generation of jet and weapon manufacturing, factories were shut down and suppliers also suffered as no orders were forthcoming, hence the next round of aircraft purchases America or Europe were again looked at.
Take the Helicopter, would we have needed Chinooks if the Rotordyne hadn't been curtailed, a second generation Rotodyne may have been a world beater, fast, capable of heavy lifting, and troop carrying, but alas we will never know.
But once you go down the path of buying in, your own industry suffers and becomes a shadow of its former self.