Hanfimar
Out of interest how many people have been lost who might have been saved at sea in the past 5 years by LRSAR (ie. over 200+ miles from a helo SAR base)? How much extra smuggling has gone on in British inland coastal waters than usual? That is the question the bean-counters will ask. They will also be asking about the real reason for a UK MPA, in providing a layer of protection for the IND; as we know, that is the real capability gap and you're unlikely to have any realistic data on that. However, that will be the main reason for justifying a MPA procurement.
I personally think it was the right decision to cancel MRA4 - the wrong decision was to let it go on for so long and not getting P3 Orion 2000 (or whatever it was called). I very much doubt that if MRA4 had come into Service whether it would still not be plagued with cost over-runs and capability/design issues that lead to its scrapping - previous performance of the program suggests it would have!
Let's hope that the SDSR takes us forward rather than regurgitating letters from 5 years ago, that only serve to weaken the case in my humble opinion. Also, let's chime on about the
real requirement for a UK MPA:
1: Protecting the IND.
2: Protecting the new QE and PoW (or other such large vessels)
3: Contributing to the real-time surface/sub-surface picture across a wide area.
Please, let's stop going on about the SAR element which is really only using up spare capacity from a MPA's key roles outline above, and let's lets remember the Nimrod for its great service over the last 40 years or so and let her rest in peace.
Like many, my fingers are crossed for an off the shelf MPA that works!
LJ
