Lurving that post ND. IMO its about as spot on as it gets, including the last paragraph. My only addition would be to say that whatever the bidder might add for their risk contingency, its then compounded when the "customer" - particularly a paranoid HM Government one, then adds their own risk percentage on top to compund matters even more. In the midst of this top level and overwhelming financial driver it puts specification issues such as what radar the aircraft is equipped with way down the scale.
Having flown SAR both in the MoD and civil now, I cant accept any suggestion that professionalism or ability to do the job is better in one or the other. However, on balance, and given the above issues, I believe the UK is wrong to commercialise SAR especially as the chosen route doesn't really offer better comparative value. Yes I think I might just have agreed with Crab! Well in that respect anyway.
