Oh dear oh dear,
Cazatou -
"The Great British Public" (whose spending power is being squeezed every which way due to the state of the Nations finances) would certainly express surprise that the aircraft that you insist is a "must have" as a Maritime Patrol Aircraft is based on a design which first flew on 27 July 1949.
Care to highlight which post of mine says Nimrod is a must have? Like, not just on this thread, but on ANY thread? Perhaps, when quoting me, you'd do me the service of ensuring I actually said whatever you say I did?
(In return I'll not post that you insist 30% of all fighter pilots should be gay, and 32 Sqn make GR4 squadrons look like the girl guides...keep misquoting me and the gloves are off pal!)
For anyone else who can't read without getting confused, I was commenting on Manccowboys assertion that the main issue with MRA4 was its name, which had been deeply tarnished by Afghanistan. I said that there was more than one problem - as well as the name being Nimrod the Brit public hadn't a clue anyway what Nimrods did, so they wouldn't give a damn about losing what they never knew they'd had. (I translate my original post, as some seem to have grasped my point incompletely, my apologies for overestimating the efficacy of the RAF's IQ testing at Biggin Hill).
On OTHER threads I have argued that the UK needs an MPA, I have never said that MPA should be an MRA4, (although I can't for the life of me see that cutting up MRA4's to buy something else instead is a brilliant idea frankly.)
Do try to keep up, there will be a test at the end.
Dave
Edit: By the way, many jet aircraft now regularly enjoy many decades of life - B707, 747, B-52, there are DC-3's still in use, ditto PBY-5's and a good many more. Provided the aircraft is either a new build of an old design, or has any 'fatigue prone' components replaced, there is no LOGICAL reason to replace an existing, proven design, unless you have a better design as an alternative. Nimrod based on Comet is a complete red herring, the MRA4 was not some hammered out compo tins glued to a 1940's airframe... had the Nimrod been completely rebuilt, ie completely new airframes (no more wings don't fit issues, rerouting of ducts, rethink of component layout to meet modern safety standars etc) then it would have been the best MPA in the world...just like MR1 and MR2 were.