engineer(retard) said:
"American safety standards are often an order of magnitude lower than ours, that is one of the reasons that why we cannot buy straight off the shelf (other than domestic industry interests). If you buy their kit and assess it against our safety critical standards it will often fail.
We have to build in additional redundancy and safety measures to integrate their weapons becasue they will accept a higher level of loss due to self-damage. "
This statement is without merit, in every way. I have detailed knowledge of the standards of military helicopters, and can assure you that the latest British helicopter, the EH-101, falls far short of current US military practice, in almost every way. The purchase of the EH by the USMC will involve a full redesign of its major systems, and its entire structure to meet US standards, especially crashworthiness/crew protection.
The self-serving idea that US standards are less than those of the UK is simply silly. In short time, I will post the shortfalls of the EH-101 as compared to the Apache, Black Hawk and other 20 year old US machines.
IMHO, it will take European helos another generation to catch up with US standards.