Roly, I gather that the original choice of engine was rejected 'because it wasn't British'.... So the BR710 was selected.
Compared to the 32" diameter low by-pass ratio (0.64) Spey, the BR710 is a high by-pass ratio (4.2) engine with a 48" fan. Although there's no reason to suspect that it would shed blades any more than would any other jet engine (and certainly less than Das Teutor sheds prop blades....), if it
did shed a blade, even if that blade was contained, massive out of balance forces would cause engine gyration and significant structural damage. Whereas in
all other BR710 applications, it would fall off the pylon, in the MRA4 it would have thrashed about deep inside the wing / fuselage junction area....
