Why don't we buy our military aircraft from....
 

Almost all our military aircraft are built by European consortia or the U.S. As the world now stands, is there perhaps an opening, even a necessity, to take a wider view? Initial posturing prior to negotiations proper, suggest we're in for hard Brexit whatever we want so looking after our interests isnt a priority for them, to say the least. Several areas of the world have vibrant aerospace industry without ever featuring in our inventory; SE Asia, Brazil ((thentucano worked out ok) Is it even so unthinkable we buy stuff from the Russians?

I would offer that is a very dubious path, with questionable supply chains and factory support all subject to political whims. Several buyers of Russian equipment have been very displeased with spares support. I would also be worried about source codes and possible hidden lines inside the software.

Ah, so you don't think our Chinese power station's such a great idea?..

Interesting point you raise. Arms sales are a huge deal, one of the few bright spots in the Russian economy. If there was the remotest hint of them being liable to "selective sabotage" through software or whatever, any prospect of overseas sales would be over. Would they really sacrifice a key industry for a very temporary military advantage?

i Guess they let people out for Christmas

ShotOne has a point - and anyway - there is such a thing as building under licence - which would increase employment in this country and ensure we controlled the spares and the software.

If you disagree, wetstart you could always make your own point rather than a catcall. Anyway this isn't principally about Russia; its a big world. Expanding our traditional shopping area could have a double benefit if it made those new suppliers more disposed to considering buying British

IMHO the idea is not so crazy as it is seen at the first sight.
Of course it will never happen with UK and other NATO members, but technically it is possible.
Look e.g. at Israel. They take MiGs as a platform only, throwing out obsolete radars and other avionics, add a weapon control system with interfaces to non-Russian missiles and sell worldwide.
And in this case the issue of malicious lines in the source code can be eliminated.

Which MiGs do Israel operate.....?

None!

They may update the FISHBED, and flog it about, but they sure as heck don't buy their operational fighters from Russia!

AtomKraft, you do not read attentively.
The word "operate" was not used. Instead, the key words were "sell worldwide". And again, I was only addressing technical issues. From the political point of view the whole topic does not make sense.

Do you mean we should buy from Israel then? Or Russia?

You said, look for example, at Israel...

Well, THEY don't buy from Russia. Israel is an example of a country that flogs things that they wont use themselves!

Again, let's not get strung up on Russia. We DO buy from Israel (watchkeeper). I'm interested why you feel this is politically impossible Avan; there have been big political upheavals in recent months.

Because the political upheaval both here and in the US has been largely about reducing ties, not increasing them.

The people who'd be kicking up a fuss would be agitating towards doing it ourselves, not farming out the work to someone else.

The third world is littered with derelict Russian equipment. Even the Russian Far East Air Force suffers the same problem. Low TBOs and a lack of spares leads to continuous cannibalisation.

Are you actually serious? We are told by people like RUSI that there will be future conflicts involving Russia and China, we are already fighting a pseudo-proxy war against/around them in the middle east and you want to be beholden to their spare parts chain and back up? Madness. Is it Apr 1?

Are we talking about the RAF now?:\

Hmm, we've really got hung up on Russia. Its a big world; is shopping outside our usual confine really an April 1 scenario?

We have already seen people looking to prosecute (and more to the point sue) the MoD where its procurement of UK equipment came with less than optimum safety case documentation. What sort of safety case do you think we'd get with an Israeli or Chinese aeroplane? Do you think there would be a fully 00-970 and 05-123-compliant set of performance analyses to support a rigorous RTS?

I know some parts of america have legalised smoking that stuff, but we should try to practice abstinence when considering serious issues...

:E

PDR

But we ARE buying (remotely piloted) aircraft from the Israelis already. Are you saying only Euro or US types are capable of certification? How is Tucano certified then?

That new Brazilian freighter looks very interesting..................

Stop bringing up Tucano now please, it's a relatively small non-complex training aircraft, built under licence by a UK firm, and was procured well before the regulatory environment we now find ourselves in existed. If you don't like the Russia focus, which producer did you have in mind for these purchases? Israel, China, Brazil, Switzerland? That's about it isn't it if we're considering 'traditional' suppliers from Uncle Sam (incidentally some of his are hardly MAA compliant either..).