Christmas looms and the earlier flurry of DII activity seems to have stalled. I gather that (from snippets gleaned in the mess) the future home of military air transport was never anywhere near ready to accept the new system. A series of compromises have been agreed by both sides to avoid contractual penalties. It seems the installation of IT into empty buildings was a 'quick win' for both sides; ie, no delay penalty for the MoD and a huge payment triggered for ATLAS.
Absolute madness. At the sharp end, we seem no nearer to getting what we actually need. The Sqns have been warned to expect to have to down (IT) tools for 48 hours to facilitate the installation of the system. BOCS is still a concern and it seems the whole shooting match may decant to Wiltshire (how will that work?) to avoid the legacy payments ATLAS demand. I may also have to sell a kidney to fund a DII laptop, (possibly both if I wish to use it whilst 'mobile'). How on earth can these costs be justified?
On the support side, already the CIS staff seem to have been thinned out, smacks of another short sighted knee jerk reaction to change, pretty much like the JPA TG17 situation.
Are ATLAS providing for the A400 and FSTA projects when they start to mature? God forbid.