It was a good idea at the time. MoD had no dosh, we needed a Lynx replacement fairly quickly, Wastelands said they had a solution to all our woes.
Trouble is, its now going to cost us a hell of a lot more than they originally quoted and it is as suitable and useful as a Reliant Robin doing the Paris-Dakar.....in reverse.
Ground taxiable?
Bowman compatable?
Reasonable rear capacity?
Cheap?
Value for money?
HUD?
Westlands haste in trying to give us something they thought we wanted and offering it at bargain basement prices lured the MoD up the alley of not putting the new aircraft up for open tender. Certain French companies were quite rightly a bit peeved.
As it happens, BRH will end up being as, if not more expensive than an off the shelf alternative but with a lesser capability.
With the money we are potentially going to spend, we could have paid off every member of Westlands with a large redundancy, bought an off the shelf and still saved a couple of quid.