This is a classic from Nick Harvey;
The capabilities that Nimrod would have provided, if it had successfully been brought into service, would have been very sophisticated. What the Air Vice-Marshal was saying, and what I meant when I said we could get back into this quickly if we needed to, was that getting some surveillance equipment of adequate calibre to perform the basic function into an aircraft with sufficient endurance to patrol the space we need to cover, is not in and of itself a phenomenally difficult challenge. If, at relatively short notice, we thought that we needed to get back into having a dedicated capability we could put something together or buy something off the shelf pretty quickly.
If it is not that difficult, why did it take 20 years to deliver nothing?
And, given that timescale, I assume by “relatively short notice” he means in excess of 20 years!
And finally, since no-one has been brought to book over this screw up, in fact the major players have been rewarded with gongs and promotions; may we assume he is content that Nimrod MRA4 represents an acceptable acquisition benchmark?