Kam; Chappie;
The very best of luck - and big tick for both of you to have the fortitude to see this through under such difficult circumstances.
Nige et al:
I've been standing back from this one, having had nothing to add. But one thing still really confuses me: why wasn't the DAS and the foam wasn't fitted in 2002? The implication from the posts above was that there wasn't any money to pay for it, but IMHO this ignores the salient points that the Treasury coughs up for UORs and the net additional cost of military operations (NACMO).
Having seen the UOR system work
very rapidly (and let's face it, the clue is in the title: "URGENT OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENT"), I can't understand why the AT fleet didn't put this up the chain as soon as the trials showed that the aircraft was vulnerable against the threat, and get the Treasury to stump up the cash as a UOR?
(Other than inter- / intra-service politics and pressonitis of those not actually flying, of course....
)
S41