RAF to get additional C-17
 

The Prime Minister has just announced that the U.K will, because of recent savings made in the defense budget, be in a position to purchase 'an additional C-17'. The PM made this announcement at PMQs just now (@12:25, 08-02-12).

Busy times ahead for those on 99 Sqn!

This might be good news but I would be more cheered if the PM announced more spares and support for the aircraft we already have.

Still, some of the victims of Project Fawkes might get a C17 slot now....

The faces on some of them when he stated there was going to be 'a' new C-17 joining the ranks.

"... defense budget"? Freudian slip? :)

Additional info here...
FlightGlobal

Pretty rapid arrival!

Is this a uncle sam slot?
very very quick delivery , either that or it was ordered a long time ago but only officialy been made public?
Could the Goverment do such a thing?

On the plus side nice to hear some good news

A mate had a tour of Boeing a while ago (at least a year ago) and no 7 and 8 were pointed out to him on the line. 2 more and can we buy a sim ?

How much aid do we give India?

We give aid to specific areas of India to help alleviate poverty and make the lives of very poor people a little better. It is a humanitarian thing to do.

You could ask why the Indian govt spends so much on defence when so many of their people are so poor, but that's not the fault of the UK.

Good news on the C17.

I know that the causes we give aid to are worthwhile but as you say why is India spending £2billion on C17s & not in alleviating their own poverty? I guess the answer might be that they don't need to as we do it for them?

All very good for 99 Sqn and the C17 community, but just how many of the J hercs could have been serviced for the money spent?
Too many of them posted as U/S:=

And another thing. I thought all the money saved was to fill the 'Black hole'
sounds like the same logic Mrs Bythebackdoor uses with shoes and sales.:confused:

Smoke & Mirrors
 

It's affordable cos it's paid from a different budget!!! :ugh::ugh::ugh:

Great news but when all you have are tankers and transport aircraft its not an Air Force. I know thats not a welcome view at present but take care of the fighting arm too.

Geee's,
You're obviously thinking of todays Air Force - not tomorrow's (whatever that may be?)

Geehova,
I think the £20Bn+ spent on Typhoon is quite enough on the "fighting arm" with god know's how many £Bn's to be thrown at F35 to come....the RNZAF is doing OK with RW/MPA/AT....

The recent largesse poured into AT/SH only serves to make up a fraction of the shortfall over past decades when FJ programmes have gobbled up the budget with indecent haste. Oh, btw, one could argue that AT/SH do constitute a large % of the fighting arm nowadays; they've been in harms way a lot more than the FJ boys and have taken significant combat attrition - the old boundary between front and second line is somewhat blurred by recent Ops.

Not meant to be a dig fella - in an ideal world we'd have a balanced budget and funds for all the toys we want.

Well done on C17 #8, now stop pratting around and buy 2 more, a sim and re-wing the C130Js......

Oh really! :ugh:

Yeah, if you never intend to use or rely on your Air Force to actually defend your country maybe.

We need all elements of our Air Force to well equipped to deal with whatever situation we might need to face.

We need Typhoon and another strike aircraft to equip the two carriers. We also need an MPA to replace Nimrod. We probably need at least 10 C17s.

At least NZ weren't stupid enough to get rid of MPA. Who in thier right mind would do that? :bored:

Out of trim,
And what did a slack handful of Skyhawks/Macchis do? Really? Yep, they could do "stuff" just not coalition "stuff" and would have merely inconvenienced any serious aggressor. What would the tiny force of F16s proposed have provided apart from an ego chariot? At what cost? War is changing; it's getting more expensive to play in the first division - we've made the choice to cling on by our fingernails by distorting the budget to buy totemic capabilities and culling some core ones. Perhaps a little rebalancing of thought as well as budgets would do the UK good. The RNZAF, albeit probably with a metaphorical pistol to its temple, has rebalanced to face the political-economic realities it faces. AT/SH/MPA are essential to it's future path; the airshows might lack some whizz and zoom but their sailors are protected and their troops have mobility.

Question from a Yank somewhat in the dark:

First off, congrats on another C-17, it helps RAF retain global reach in supporting ops in a variety of venues. (Also, might that not help the Falklands airbridge requirement somewhat?)

Considering the retirement of Nimrod, is the P-8A Maritime Patrol aircraft something the RAF would consider if the initial operations in the USN, India, and elsewhere prove it to be a good platform?

Boeing (and BAE as a sub? They seem to have some play in this) seems to be building the aircraft with a modular methodology, so that you could customize the design to meet UK-unique requirements.
(No, I don't work for, and don't own stock in, Boeing.)

One advantage to this, were the MPA capability to be revived, would be some logistic support / parts commonality during coalition operations. But I may get getting ahead of myself here ...