Originally Posted by
tucumseh
Hansard, 3 February 2014, during an exchange between Mr Kevan Jones MP (Labour) and Mr Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Defence. The latter stated: .
“It is a bit rich for him to say that the gap in maritime patrol cover was created by this Government. What this Government did was to recognise the reality that his Government had been investing in aircraft that would never fly, would never be certified and would never be able to deliver a capability”.
I can't really accept that as an authoritative source when in the same breath he claims the aeroplanes never flew. I don't have the number to hand, but the fleet had accumulated flying hours that were certainly in the hundreds and I'm fairly sure were in the thousands. As I said - three were about to be delivered when the SDSR announcement waws made. I was in the building when the "Stop all work" order invoking the cancellation clause in the contract came in. That clause actually said something aloing the lines of:
"you will continue working to contract for up to 90 days while the cancellation terms are agreed".
This caused much ribald amusement as BAES responded with "OK, so we're delivering three aircraft in those 90 days - where do you want them?"...
PDR