Missing Defence Assets (merged)
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Missing Defence Assets (merged)
BBC News - MPs alarmed by 'missing' £6.3bn defence assets
MP's alarmed by the fact that £6.3Bn seems to have gone amiss somewhere.. well thats only 1/6th of the total defence budget.. what ho chaps.. It'll turn up eh??
Sadly as an ex-serviceman, I can't say I am surprised by this story, random drinking events, breweries and lack of ability to organize springs to mind.
MP's alarmed by the fact that £6.3Bn seems to have gone amiss somewhere.. well thats only 1/6th of the total defence budget.. what ho chaps.. It'll turn up eh??
Sadly as an ex-serviceman, I can't say I am surprised by this story, random drinking events, breweries and lack of ability to organize springs to mind.
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£184m of Bowman radios
H4855, Bowman Personal Role Radio Body | eBay UK
I personally like this bit.
your radio will be picked from a batch of radios released by the MOD.
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one comentator on BBC comments was going on about charging service personell for missing kit. So if the Kit goes missing at depot/store level who's liable apart from us the Tax payers?
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Its no good pointing, USAS says its not there......
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I recall back in the 90's there was a shortage of SeaKing main rotor gearboxes and Wastelands couldn't turn round enough overhauled items to keep pace.. anyway, I was on duty with the crash and smash team, and I went into one of the old ground equipment hangars on whiskey site at Culdrose and found 4 serviceable MRGB's that apparently main stores knew nothing about..
Thats why I am not surprised by this news article.
Thats why I am not surprised by this news article.
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No surprise whatsoever. DSDA's a complete and utter mess and the former LAIPT one of the most useless bodies it has ever been my dim and distant displeasure to have had any connection with.
You have a whole pile of legacy applications left over from the single service days, of which DSDA knows nowhere near enough to be able to administer, maintain, look after... so, they try and offload the whole lot onto Boeing for 800 million under the guise of FLIS, not to mention the creeping advance of DII, who cant or wont host half of these apps; there are legacy apps which are unsupportable or end of life that they wont replace and wont make a decision on funding, continuing to kick them into the long grass to be replaced eventually by FLIS... and decisions continue to be fudged, avoided, heads kept low, for just that little bit longer until their pensions can be drawn.
And thats without getting into the very cosy relationships between the Tier One outsourcing organisations and the IPT's in this case running counter to the interests of the services and the user community. The behaviour of one particular supplier, I found absolutely reprehensible.
This report, I'm afraid, is no surprise whatsoever. And chances are, it'll get significantly worse before it gets any better. Sooner or later something big will happen where the system will prove that despite the best efforts of those on the shop floor and the sharp end (who do their best to cope despite this millstone around their necks), that it is truly unfit for purpose.
I just hope it doesnt cost anyone their lives.
You have a whole pile of legacy applications left over from the single service days, of which DSDA knows nowhere near enough to be able to administer, maintain, look after... so, they try and offload the whole lot onto Boeing for 800 million under the guise of FLIS, not to mention the creeping advance of DII, who cant or wont host half of these apps; there are legacy apps which are unsupportable or end of life that they wont replace and wont make a decision on funding, continuing to kick them into the long grass to be replaced eventually by FLIS... and decisions continue to be fudged, avoided, heads kept low, for just that little bit longer until their pensions can be drawn.
And thats without getting into the very cosy relationships between the Tier One outsourcing organisations and the IPT's in this case running counter to the interests of the services and the user community. The behaviour of one particular supplier, I found absolutely reprehensible.
This report, I'm afraid, is no surprise whatsoever. And chances are, it'll get significantly worse before it gets any better. Sooner or later something big will happen where the system will prove that despite the best efforts of those on the shop floor and the sharp end (who do their best to cope despite this millstone around their necks), that it is truly unfit for purpose.
I just hope it doesnt cost anyone their lives.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
I had a bit of kit values at £130k. ASAIK no one signed for it except that every year some Army wallah would send us sheets and sheets of inventory audit paper work with the item listed.
More precisely, a similar item was listed with a similar NSN but a quite different serial number.
We would correct the paperwork and return it.
Next year another set of paper with similar item listed with a similar NSN but a quite different serial number.
As we didn't keep the paperwork I have no idea if it was the same wrong info from the year before or another set of fictious numbers.
More precisely, a similar item was listed with a similar NSN but a quite different serial number.
We would correct the paperwork and return it.
Next year another set of paper with similar item listed with a similar NSN but a quite different serial number.
As we didn't keep the paperwork I have no idea if it was the same wrong info from the year before or another set of fictious numbers.
It might be intriguing to find out ...
...how many items are languishing in customs warehouses around the Med.
Ship orders spares to go to next port of call
spares flown out civair to, let's say Catania or Siracusa
pusser tries to get said spares out but either, doesn't speak Italian and is stumped by the Byzantine customs procedures or won't pay the "facilitation fee".
The man who HAS to stamp the paperwork is away/at lunch/on holiday/not available (no fee has been forthcoming)
Ship sails in order to stay on schedule
re-orders spares to be delivered to next port of call ummm Greece maybe??
I found this when I badly needed spares to fix our aircraft. While I negotiated with the man, chiefie wandered around and came up with a/c batteries, hydraulic pipes and other associated a/c bits that the intended recipients had never found their way to. For a small extra consideration we were allowed to load all this stuff into our van and depart.
The SK MRGB tag above reminded me of a friend who was responsible for these a good few years ago. In a depot my friend found a large cage full of them. All were "quarantined" as the a/c was subject to an incident report and were waiting "examination" in the investigation into the incident. The incident reports had long been cleared. They had clearly been forgotten about. And new ones were procured.
The Ancient Mariner
Ship orders spares to go to next port of call
spares flown out civair to, let's say Catania or Siracusa
pusser tries to get said spares out but either, doesn't speak Italian and is stumped by the Byzantine customs procedures or won't pay the "facilitation fee".
The man who HAS to stamp the paperwork is away/at lunch/on holiday/not available (no fee has been forthcoming)
Ship sails in order to stay on schedule
re-orders spares to be delivered to next port of call ummm Greece maybe??
I found this when I badly needed spares to fix our aircraft. While I negotiated with the man, chiefie wandered around and came up with a/c batteries, hydraulic pipes and other associated a/c bits that the intended recipients had never found their way to. For a small extra consideration we were allowed to load all this stuff into our van and depart.
The SK MRGB tag above reminded me of a friend who was responsible for these a good few years ago. In a depot my friend found a large cage full of them. All were "quarantined" as the a/c was subject to an incident report and were waiting "examination" in the investigation into the incident. The incident reports had long been cleared. They had clearly been forgotten about. And new ones were procured.
The Ancient Mariner
Is it any surprise when we have had 20 years of cuts in personnel, both military and civil servants. Reorganised headquarters and organisations on a biannual basis, converted paper files to electronic ones and contracted so many core elements out to the cheapest bidders. How many people have just given up and don't care any more? How many people who are about to be compulsary redundant are going to leave under a cloud of bitterness.
Interesting story a few years ago with huge cuts taking place 'in the city'. In some companies, employees being made redundant were getting calls to the HR department to be told their services were no longer required at the same time as staff from the IT department were removing computers from their desk spaces and closing down all electronic access to business systems. They were given immediate notice to leave, had to hand over access cards and were escorted by security to clear out desks before being shown the door. Grossly unpleasant and not what you would like to see in Defence but the whole idea was to prevent bitter and twisted employees causing any possible chance of financial damage before leaving the office.
Could we see the same over the next few years?
Interesting story a few years ago with huge cuts taking place 'in the city'. In some companies, employees being made redundant were getting calls to the HR department to be told their services were no longer required at the same time as staff from the IT department were removing computers from their desk spaces and closing down all electronic access to business systems. They were given immediate notice to leave, had to hand over access cards and were escorted by security to clear out desks before being shown the door. Grossly unpleasant and not what you would like to see in Defence but the whole idea was to prevent bitter and twisted employees causing any possible chance of financial damage before leaving the office.
Could we see the same over the next few years?
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Maybe this explains why the Nimrod R1 is not required for elint any more.
Terry is now using the radios from stores / Ebay so we no longer need soophisticated equipment to overcome the freqency hopping ICOMS or Cellular services. Just select a chan on the Bowman and here what's on your local net.
Simples.
Terry is now using the radios from stores / Ebay so we no longer need soophisticated equipment to overcome the freqency hopping ICOMS or Cellular services. Just select a chan on the Bowman and here what's on your local net.
Simples.
