Years ago on a visit to Aerospatial at Marignane I looked around a brand new Puma that was going off to some Asian operator. It had the whole works, twin ILS, VOR and twin ADF. The HSI and AI was the same as the RAF had and it was merely a matter of plugging them in.
After years of stumbling around the UK VMC below cloud and having to land in the occasional field because we couldn’t see or climbing and taking your chances with a PAR at a Master Diversion I expressed the opinion to a senior staff officer of Air Support Command that we would be well advised to fit a similar kit to our squadron aircraft.
The cost was peanuts, about ₤6,000 per aircraft plus time to fit it.
I was grandly told, as he had bigger rings than I had so he knew much more about flying Pumas than I did, that it was totally unnecessary as in a war they would be switched off.
My contentions that I had joined the Air Force to ensure that there was not another war and that we were wasting time and money getting lost without proper equipment were totally ignored and eventually my argument was terminated by a fellow officer who led me away before I got court martialled.
I don’t know what they have now, but I hope it is better than a map, stopwatch and a wavy Decca map.