Originally Posted by
msbbarratt
My tuppence:
For the time and money actually spent on the MR4, it'd have been better spent on coming up with a whole new airframe. Or converting an A320, or A330. If it comes to that, how expensive are used A340s to buy, operate?
I was peripherally involved in the RMPA option studies in the early 90s (before the ITT was compiled), and I remember BAe (as was)
begging to be allowed to offer an all-new aeroplane, but the Treasury were adamant that they wouldn't even look it it because it was too technically risky (ironic, in hindsight). The A320/340 options were looked at, but they were deemed to be unsufficiently rugged and unlikley to stand up to the low-level rough-and-tumble that sub-hunting entails.
PDR