Lost at Sea - the RAF gave advice on the interim contract but did not scrutinise the details of the bids - hence, bullsh*t claims by the bidders made it past the MCA who naively trusted the contractors to tell the truth.
The present bids for SARH have been properly scrutinised by the RAF and this process has shown up the lengths to which companies will go to obfuscate the true capability of the platform (that is a nice way of saying they are lying b*st*rds).
Now who is trying to rip off the UK taxpayers? Not the MoD - we suffer from systemic incompetence caused by career-seeking jack-of-all trades - it is true but money is not the driver there. It is industry, with both feet firmly in the golden trough of the public purse who are looking to give the least in return for the most. It may be the way of the commercial world but it is not the best thing for UK SAR.
It's a nice idea to blame the RAF for the greed of industry but it just won't wash - we get on with our job in the best way we can within the constraints of our platform - both our aircraft were serviceable throughout the day and night yesterday for the 7.5 hours of training and SAROPs we did and they are both still there this morning - any civilian operator provide that in UK?