Have been reading all the failings in this and the one thing that comes to mind is a lack of a bulletproof contract so everyone knew what was expected and BAe would have been tied to producing an airworthy project or would have paid the price for not delivering what was required.
A friend that was involved in the failed Nimrod AWAC told me one of the major failings was an open contract and a major problem was the software would not fit on the computer hard drive so a fortune was sent compressing the data to fit, where the simple expedience of upgrading the computers and fitting larger drives would have solved the majority of the problems, but as there was no fixed costings involved there was no incentive for BAe to solve the problem. Whether that is correct or not, it would seem to be about right for the way the MOD goes about things.
The MR 4 also had problems when fitting computer designed wings on what were hand built airframes, the first set fitted, but the rest were way out, couple that with adding an engine that wasn't supposedly designed to operate down long intake ducts and you are then having to throw money at it. They would have probably been cheaper to build new fuselages to match the wings.
Last edited by NutLoose; 11th Jun 2012 at 22:13.