The true cost of pressing ahead with Nimrod is now so astronomical it isn't even a non-runner. The team has been all but disbanded, the simulators are in bits awaiting disposal and I suspect the aircraft are not far behind (haven't been to Warton/Woodford recently, too painful after 10 years of effort to watch your life's work being cut up and thrown in the bin).
The sad fact is that we put a politician in a position where he had to make a military decision. Unsurprisingly, the SDSR now looks unbalanced, incoherent, unfocused and exposed for what it was, a cuts exercise. Our SMT put the politicians in that position by being unable to agree amongst themselves (and I am just talking Light Blue here) what our focus and priority were.
I would be intrigued to know (not that I hold much hope of ever finding out) how much it would have cost/saved over the next 4 years to bin GR4 instead of Harrier.
Keeping Harrier would have retained the current CAS capability requirement whilst allowing future JSF transition more easily.
Binning GR4 would have allowed the RAF release 90 odd crews, cease FJ WSO training (there are no future 2-man FJ aircraft in the pipeline
AFAIK) and re-role/dispose of 2 large bases.
I suspect the savings would have even been sufficient to prevent MRA4 being dragged onto the chopping block.
Anyway, not sure why I posted? I am seriously running out of enthusiasm for the organisation I had wanted to join since the age of about 6. I was lucky, I got in and I got to fly HM's hardware around the world and I was damned proud to do it.
When people ask these days what I do, I usually tell them I'm a biscuit designer for Cadbury's, or a Stained Glass Window Fitter.
