Funky - our procurement system is awful, mainly because the staff officers involved seem to have little or no relevant operational experience and are often unlikely to disagree with those further up the chain (you don't go to MoD cos it's fun, you do it to get promoted).
The Danish report shows that their procurement system is equally flawed - they believed AW when they assured them that 80% availability was the norm and didn't question that the same AW were unwilling to put that claim on paper.
AW walked all over the Danes in terms of contract negotiation (they are really good at this bit of business) and now the Danes have an aircraft that might be able to do the job but just isn't serviceable long enough.
If the defenders of AW think this shabby, deceitful way of doing business is worth preserving just to save a few West Country jobs then I've got a car you might like to buy
Jacko - the AAC got away with using Scout and Lynx because the lack of lift capability was masked by the anti-tank capability (however thin the veneer on that one). Now the Apache has that bit of the battlefield sewn up, the shortcomings of the Lynx are brought into sharp focus.
Unless you make the Lynx bigger to increase it's cabin capacity (and I mean doubling it not squeezing one extra bloke in), it will NEVER be any use on the battlefield.
We have been crying out for more medium and heavy lift helicopters for years and even the NAO recognised the problems. What have MoD done about it? Continued throwing money at the West Country Pirates to produce a helicopter optimised for all those decisive naval battles we are engaged in
