TEEEJ
I don't see it that way. Call me cynical. I just see the BBC going for a dramatic headline simply to jump on the Typhoon bashing bandwagon. News stories such as this will not make the slightest bit of difference, IMHO
Cynical yes, and there is an element of truth in what you say.
However the way I look at it is that the BBC maybe bashing the Typhoon, but the public see it as yet another problem with the lack of money spent on the Armed Forces when they have been committed to yet another operation. In work today I have had several people commenting (with some disgust) that our latest and most modern aircraft has no spares. When I explained that this was nothing new and we suffered the same problem with the Tonka back in 1980, they were even more horrified. Some of them do take notice and they do care!
It was only post GW2 and the ramp up off Afghanistan that the message about the lack of proper equipment such as boots and body armour started to be reported by the press. It was reported and reported and quite often hyped up out of all proportion. But it worked and finally decent equipment (and many other things) was delivered.
When there is no publicity given to a particular problem, then the MOD (including the Senior Officers) and the Government will not react.
If the BBC want to broadcast another 20 hyped up stories about the Typhoon, then let it be.
Geehovah
Maybe I missed it but Typhoon was supposed to break the mould.
Logistics support was on a 4 Nation basis.
It was called ILS – Integrated Logistic Support -Not Instrument Landing System
Mil Std 1388, Def Stan 0060 (now 600) and it was to be the saviour of the supportability world.
The truth of the matter is that we have always been very good at predicting how many spares we need, even from the old CSDE days.
However, what is the point of all this good analysis if the bean counters “save money” by not buying the recommended spares. You end up with short term, false economies and in a situation that we never actually recover from.
And to be quite frank the situation is fully endorsed within the MOD by our lords and masters from Sqn Ldr upwards on every project.
