Doesn't the problem go deeper than this really? We have a leadership who has become used to not asking for anything that might harm the flagship programmes (which were mostly procured to fight big state-on-state wars) and then relying on the UOR process to get them out of the dwang. If you then mix in a Government that has been on the whole uninterested by the dedicated bunch they know as the Armed Forces who have had little voice until now. There have been some success stories in the procurement process, but these pages are full of stories of the turkeys. Our procurement process has never been that agile due to the perceived need to safeguard British Industry, often at the cost of capability. We have criticised our US bretheren, but, for instance, they have re-capitalised their helicopters (buying 500+ UH60Ms for the cost of our Wildcat programme) and rushed in lots of MRAPs whilst we were still driving round in LR Snatches and wondering why so many of our troops were being killed and injured. So the Government is guilty, but guilty of ignorance and niaivety whilst the military has been complacent and afraid to ask for fear of losing bigger programmes. We have some really great people (shown by the latest operational honours awards), but how well are we serving these men and women at all levels?