I seem to remember a zillion or so years ago something similar being said about retaining the Beverly (perhaps one squadron) to support tasks the C130 would have difficulty in handling. :eek:

True - but I'm not talking about weather and nor, I think, was Neil!

Don't forget the impressive 'snow clearance debarcle' in Jan this year when the powers that be only cleared half the runway (and I mean the northen half!) meaning that nothing moved for 3 days, and then it was T/O only. How much did that cost to preposition everything into East Mids???????????

CP:

At £7M/year saving plus 145 civvy jobs, it'll take more than my lifetime to pay for Future Brize.

Money saving, my @r$e!! I think someone passed this through on the result of a thesis for their MBA on how combining multiple sites can save money (works in retail but not in this case).

What a joke!

Farfrom - Economies of Scope(EoS) or Scale?- of course if an organisation gets too big then dis-economies of scale start to creep in. Combining operations is fine as long as you are conducting similar operations from the same site and you can achieve those EoS that you are after. Sometimes these things just don't work out - look at the botched merger of Chrysler and Merc-Benz back in the 1990s - they tried to achieve EoS and Scope but failed as they were trying to mesh 2 totally different business models. One could argue the same could be happening at BZN - but what is it that we DON'T know about? Could the intentions always have been to retire the C130 fleet early and only operate FSTA, A400M and C17 from BZN??

Grimweasel,

I'm aware of the economies of scale argument..... See my previous post!

It's just that the economics don't add up:

£7M/Year saving vesrus £340M move. And that's before you factor in closure costs at LYE.

I'm not remotely sentimental about strips of concrete, but if we're trying to cut costs then I suggest we bin the move.

FarFrom,

It wasn't your MBA thesis was it?? :E:E :ok:

Dirty bomb in Carterton? Unlikely, I know, but never say never...

I really hope that I'm wrong to be concerned about combining the two bases, but I'm not alone!

guys this is a pointless thread :ugh:

stop the press.

LYNEHAM IS CLOSING.:D

SDR will see off more than just one little base in wiltshire and more than one old well past its time aircraft, so just sit back and wait and see,
you know it's coming, so start thinking of what you would like to do with your lives after SDR.

Depends what you mean by "Lyneham is closing".

I still reckon the most likely scenario is the closure of RAF Lyneham followed a few months later by the base being re-opened to house returning units from Germany.

I also reckon there is a requirement for extra aircraft servicing capacity that Lyneham could offer, (requiring investment in the runway), but that was before I started reading about the reported premature demise of the Hercules aircraft, (which will further reduce capability).

Whatever happens, this thread fulfills a purpose by showing that the closure of Lyneham and transfer of personnel and aircraft is monumentally unpopular with the people affected and does not indicate that any cost saving will be achieved for many years. A very different point of view to that being offered by official RAF and MoD comment.

If the C-130J really is to be retired as A400M comes on stream, it makes no sense whatsoever to move any C-130 aircraft, simulators, personnel or anything else right now. The only remaining reason to do so would be to avoid senior officers' loss of face.....

Good job that the nuBrize ASP has been built with sufficient PCN to cope with all RAF heavy aircraft types......:suspect:

I feel sullied by your accusations. You are a very grim weasel indeed ;)

The closure of RAF Lyneham is indeed a done deal and no amount of cybergurning will change that fact. What the collective "moaning" does do however is expose the crass reasoning and "planning" that has (or hasn't) gone into the whole project. It's nice to see that no one with any clout has seen fit to question the plan publicly and that we have some senior management who are quite happy to stand by and applaud the Emperor and his new clothes.

Couldn't agree more with the above comment.

Where will the acquiescence end, with the demise of the Royal Air Force?

One thing is certain, if you choose not to fight, hector and harry the result is a foregone conclusion. Difficult if your career could be put at risk, perhaps why so many take the line of least resistance?

I'm sure the closure is a done deal, but I have a gut feeling that a stay of execution might be sensible.

Not that I care anymore. The spirit here at Lyneham is broken, and it won't get any better. Many guys and girls (including civvies) whose knowledge and experience would be vital to the move, simply aren't bothered.

It is hard to imagine us getting even worse at producing serviceable aircraft and qualified crews, but it will surely happen, hastening our own demise.

The zealots who believe that this will go smoothly are ridiculed behind their backs. Most of them don't even believe in what they are doing anyway.

:{

In January this year, the Labour Government rejected the latest of several attempts to reverse its decision to close RAF Lyneham.

So, fancy opening a Tatoo parlour and an Aldi in Lyneham - plus a Bratty wagon - they could be a sound investment?!

Could be a very cost effective method of giving the place a long overdue makeover! :)

I'm not quite sure that Mr Gray fully understands what a Dirty bomb is...maybe he thinks that it is a weapon of Mass destruction...He is probably confusing it with a salted weapon.

The architect of the move.....?????
 

Not sure if this is breaking any pprune rules, if so no doubt it will be pulled by a mod, or I will be banned.......

However, this is a link to a freely available website found through using google, so anyone out there can access it, and the words on it are not mine but presumably approved by the person in question....

Air Commodore Ian Elliott, OBE BSc FRIN RAF

Pity they could not spell "Camp", as in "Aide de Camp!