St Athan has often gone the extra mile for the RAF, as was demonstrated during Granby and during the Jaguar upgrade. It has often proved itself able to do the job 'quicker, cheaper and better' than BAE or Marshall, and though civilianised still has some semblance of a service ethos, and still functions in a similar way to an old style MU.
It's a vital and highly capable engineering resource, and a useful 'second centre' to BAE, who would doubtless love to see it closed.
The way in which this is being presented is interesting - "responsibility for in-depth maintenance was taken away from at St Athan and returned to the military" - but is typically misleading Noo Labour spin.
Work may be returning to RAF Stations - but only under 'make work' schemes for BAE like Harrier Jump, Tornado ATTAC, etc. In effect, work is being civilianised even further, with a slough of availability contracts which may save money, but that will make the generation of aircraft to meet surge requirements almost impossible, and in which the MoD will be paying good money to keep BAE shareholders happy. A generation of risk-averse IPT leaders have been only too happy to shrug off their responsibilties and let BAE Systems carry the weight.
As a result BAE is rapidly becoming a monopoly supplier of maintenance as well as platforms. I remain to be convinced that this is in the long term best interests of the taxpayer, and I'm absolutely convinced that it's not in the long term best interests of the RAF.
Last edited by Jackonicko; 5th Sep 2005 at 14:36.