Good on you Wrathmonk! I am with you.
Jackonicko said
Nice try, but wrong.
Money has to be saved.
in response to DBTW who said
You and your ilk picking a pet project or two and attacking the funding of everyone else is by far the biggest threat to your national security.
Jackonicko,
I am absolutely certain Typhoon is a pretty good aircraft and it should be worth the wait. I also know (it will have been spoken about before) EAP was the development aircraft and it was emerging from the BAE facility in 1984. RAF had an initial in service date for Typhoon of Feb 1996 when it was re-named Eurofighter 2000 to make the delay sound planned.
And it's not the Typhoon Force's fault.
doesn't cut it.
We are about to slip into 2009 and you are still trying to make excuses for Typhoon tardiness when there have clearly been a few hitches along the way. It's no good harping on about how good it is and how many billions it is really worth or how efficient it will be at close air support. The aeroplane is late and to a great extent the world has passed it by. The last thing the RAF needs to do now is depend on an aircraft which will be an overused phrase "legacy fighter" within a year or so as its primary/only weapon system.
When the protagonists have all had their palpitations over that comment, even if Typhoon is the best thing sinced canned beer, thankfully the RAF have never depended on one type in the past, and they are not about to start now just because some lay aircraft expert/journo on PPRUNE thinks he has the solution.
Please don't start advocating life extensions on Tornado or bringing back Jaguar. The F35 is coming and the RAF/RN will have it. RAF/RN will also have aircraft carriers. Best you just get used to it.