Dont Worry lads...we've ordered some more Typhoons instead

[AQAfive]

The problem is, more often than not, the contract is written in such a way that to cancel the ac would cost more than to deliver them and at least we can then provide employment for BAES.

You must also remember that the gold braid at the top table are invariably Twin Wing Master Race fast jet and understand little else. They then have to fight with the Navy and Army over the scraps on the table using what must be the most inefficient and useless procurement system in existence. The system is flawed and is doomed to failure. For those that would argue I merely point to HC47 Mk3. (sorry thats Chinook Mk 3 in UK parlance, confused my designators)

To plan for the future is so difficult, what will be the threat in the future? We always buy our defence equipment for peacetime ops, then when the balloon goes up, we add weapons needed. An expensive and silly way of doing it, but it reduces the defence bill at the time. We add the weapons using the additional money from the contingency fund, except this bunch insists you take it from the current defence budget which then plays havoc with current projects and introduces yet more delays. A simplistic view I know, but in essence accurate. Add to that the fact that modern ac are software driven and time and costs escalate. I would love a £1 for every time I have heard a senior neddy saying 'you only need to change the software, that cant be very hard'. It may not be hard, but it is expensive and time consuming. Testing cannot be shortened, if you try you end up with an Ariane 5 situation. (It blew up it cos the software thought it had the performance bounds of an Ariane 4, they never tested it because it worked on Ariane 4)

So easy to criticise, not so easy to solve without vast sums of money. I certainly don't know whether we should have carriers AND Trident AND more vehicles AND Helios AND........so it goes on. What I do know is that socialist governments do not consider defence a priority, far from it. I read an article from the RAF in 1968. The Russians had invaded Czechoslovakia, had blotted all comms and EW frequencies in the process and we were powerless in the west to do anything about it without risking WW3. At the same time the (Labour) government were announcing the cuts being made to the RAF post the withdrawal from the East. So nothing changes.

So should we send more helos to Afghanistan, I don't know but I suspect we do, but the present government sees it as expensive and wont do it.

Sorry for waffling, I could go on..........