Hmmm
*Snip*
The bottom line is SERCO & Marshalls have been floundering around for 20 or so months with something they don't really understand and achieved very little Babcock are the newcomers to this project having come to it in about May this year and have with their policy of subcontracting experts to do the work got two gliders flying in the face of SERCO obstruction and reams of MoD paperwork.
A & C, I take it you've a vested interest in Babcock. with your above statement, if one looks at the timescales between the DHAN being issued and the First Vigilant flying its very similar to the timescale between Babcock starting and the first Viking flying, and taking into account the huge uplift of IPT employees to assist the task, there's nothing in it.
Additionally your comment regarding SERCO obstruction seems hugely unfounded, I was advised that it was SERCO MO staff that had to transpose the documentation back into the F700 for Babcock and complete the airworthiness review to allow the aircraft to fly.