Originally Posted by
AQAfive
Sometime during MRA4 development, there was a Service wide paper that discussed the placing of all ISTAR assets at Waddington. It was agreed that it would be a good idea until someone sat down with an abacus and worked out how much it would cost. I don't think it was so much about the absolute figure that was the concern, but out of who's piggybank it was coming. These were the days of GB and 'if you want it, it comes out of existing budget, no more money', so it was shelved and everyone went back to plan A.
As for ISK, it now belongs to the Army, although no doubt they would move if required. The infrastructure is still there, remember, when head plonker decided to cancel the MRA4, everything was paid for and ready to go once the ac was cleared. But, and it's a big but, with Ms Sturgeon in the picture it's a risk not worth taking, so Waddington makes sense and by its nature, there is a new piggybank.
As for the P8, I know no facts about the ac, however, reading between the lines, it is the usual Boeing fudge. Show how it can fly at low level and then during developement discover that as it was designed to cruise at high level, it has fatigue issues when flown for extended period on the deck. Why else remove the MAD, drop sonobuoys from high level, (and as every wet man will tell you, that's just a way to spend money, not track anything - you might know where you dropped the buoy with its GPS, but it might not be where you wanted it to be.) With the USN, they have the budget to add a drone to the inventory, we do not.
So as it is, as far as I am concerned, unsuitable, we will surely buy it as it will come as a simple (expensive) package.
As for the P1 - now that would be interesting.......