In my experience most of the blame for the overpriced ineffective and obsolescent equipment entering service should be laid fairly and squarely at the door of MOD. The blue-suiters in MOD must carry the burden of this. Most of them in my day didn't seem to know what the Service needed or wanted and they changed faces at such a rate to pursue their careers that there was no continuity of decision making. Couple this with no commercial acumen and you have a system that any company could make hay with - and they did.