I was under the impression that 'down select' was on the 22nd January. Hey ho.
Secondly (even though I am happy either way) bear in mind that the chosen one (225/92) has to survive 35 years of SAR. How old is the 225 currently?
This contract will go ahead, there will not be a delay - the SeaKing fleet is relying on a replacement a/c NOW. Further delays (after 8years of planning already) will cost the (new) government dearly.
Having said that, exactly this happened in Germany with their SeaKing replacement (the NH90 will not be replacing it now
). Secondly, did you know that 85% of ALL previous MoD contracts were between 3 and 5 yrs late
