bŁoody Hell
High Spirits,
Are you sure about your info - I agree with everyone that nothing would surprise me, but even the most dim witted bean counter, scrutineer and politician recognise that this will place us back to where we were at the beginning when Brown withdrew funding for FMH and other rotary projects that then prompted the NAO report of 2003 - and delaying spending on projects now cost significantly more in the future - significantly more as airframes drop off the perch.
If there is to be this reduction of helicopters - Sea King in the next 6-8 years and Puma in 10 or so, then that leaves a very very small rotary wing fleet indeed.
A decision like that would be political suicide wouldn't it? How could any politician stand up in front of the country for the next war after Afghanistan and apologise for repeating the same lessons learned (i.e. not enough helicopters).
If we do not get the CH47 buy, then that is it - the game is over and we really are adopting an isolationist policy and withdrawing from the world stage.
That will be it and heaven forbid if this country does have floods on the scale that the rest of the world seems to be having, or a requirement to lift stranded tourists from countries around the globe that have rapidly defied all strategic reviews and suddenly tumbled into instability - let alone do any of the air mobility/manoeuvre that the pongos want in order to bounce them around the battle fields of tomorrow so they dont have to get blown up by roadside bombs, or bogged down in unsuitable terrain etc - madness