No Fix mentality
Clunk The good old UK has really lost its 'build it fix it' capability and 'engineering' now seems to be based on sitting in front of a monitor with clean hands.
The 'Glider' fiasco is only one of a number of issues that stem from the lack of engineering capability in the forces.
They binned the world class training bases years ago so the 'hands on' skills started to depart after that.
With engineering not a high priority at the MOD you have no one to 'oversee' all sorts of schemes that go wrong.
There is also the problem of not being able to produce simple GA type equipment that would suit some of the basic requirements of the Forces.
To a degree it has to be expected as progressive 'cuts' have reduced the core structure of our industry and expertise to a low level.What you do then is to have lots of meetings and reports to satisfy the Government bodies that money is well spent not wasted.
No easy fix as there is no one with any real clout at the top who knows what to do or how to go about it.The ATC Gliding organisation ran so well for so long because it was staffed by competent people and had a continuity in bringing on new blood to feed the system. When you 'outsource' all the facilities then you leave yourself open to a multitude of potential problems no one contemplated at the time because it was 'sold' as being 'cost saving'.
When the system fails how cheap was that.