Good work Coastguard......

[Tallsar]

Hi IC.....yes you make a good point.....but such a possibility means an MoD aquisition system that is "SMART" - was supposed to happen that way post the 1998 SDR -- and a lot of cash was spent and reorg occurred to make it so. IPTs were created to try and ensure best value for money and the possibility of it always taking the broadest view on equipment to ensure that best value for money. Also meant "no sacred cows" and not operating in stove pipes ie. looking outside your own box for solutions or ensuring your requirement wasn't being met by another team elsewhere in a different way.

Grand idea it all was ...but was always destined to fail as it wasn't pump primed enough to allow IPTs the freedom of action and fundamentally depended on the narrow operating culture of the (mostly) civ servants within the system. There was an idea at one point that most of the staff should be sacked and a " new culture" imbued by employing new people or re-employing those that signed up to the new way....sadly it never happened and we are now firmly back to the old ways, including the top dogs at Abbey constantly chasing their tales as they tackle an overheated requirements list with at least 40% underfunding...and then came the Puma upgrade......couldn't agree with you more.......its a sad poor value for money upgrade.......but someone convinced themselves that it was all that was available with the cash in hand.......Ah Well....