Dervish,
Hammond is working from a 2008 start date as indicated in a written answer to Angus on 3rd Dec. He gives no explanation for ten years of inactivity between 1998 to 2008, which is what Angus was looking for.
"A commercial off the shelf traffic collision avoidance system was identified as a potential solution to the Department's requirement for a collision warning system on the Tornado GR4 fast jet fleet by the Deep Target Attack Capability Sponsor as part of the Department's 2008 annual planning process"
Even taking 2008 as the start date his statement is nonsense. He is claiming that an off the shelf piece of equipment could not be fitted in four years, and yet according to another written answer an "under development" piece of equipment can be fitted in two years. (Oct 2012 to end of 2014). This will be MoD's answer to the families, "Even if we had gone ahead with the fit it would not have been ready at the time of the collision, so we can not be blamed". You start to get a feel for what is in the SI report. I only hope that the Procurator Fiscal sees through it.
At least Des Browne had the balls to stand up in Parliament on the day the BOI produced it's report and say, sorry we screwed up. Hammond should follow his example.
DV