Scotch wise Not a fan of Laphroig far to peaty, I do like the bowmore though.

Have to say though my taste does lean towards the Irish with middleton being a favourite (if rare) tipple.

I tried Japanese whiskey and found it OK but it didnt really grab me

my apologies – i had read the post re the councillers comments, but hadnt noted who called it, then picked up on the last lines of youre last post and missinterperated what you were saying,

excuse me while i extract my right foot

They are not turning there backs on any one – as it quite clearly states there will be facillities for most importantly families and provision will be made those who wish to pay their respects.

The fact is lynham is closing therefore the flights will be landing at Brize – a route change was therefore inevitable.

Official comments regarding the route not passing Schools, Houses etc was more in regard to married quarters, not local villages, bearing in mind many of those will have husbands fathers (wives mothers these days to) on active service.

Sensationalist reporting at its best

Lyneham is closing (and has been for several years) flying ops cease soon. landing at brize and the change of route is as A.P suggested completely reasonable. I think even the side gate is a main access gate just not one that opens up into the village.

What would happen if the IAF were to designate the MRCA winner as a nuclear platform and seek data from the manufacturer to allow it to integrate the nuclear bombs on existing weapon racks on the Typhoon/Rafale?

In the past, Jaguars were tested and found unsuitable for India’s atomic bombs (due to lower ground clearance) and Mirage-2000s were tested and operationalised as the nuclear delivery platforms. Neither manufacturer raised any issues in this matter (maybe they weren’t aware of it) but now that India is a declared nuclear power, it may well look to directly ask the manufacturers about the suitability of their fighter being a nuclear platform.

Since the Rafale is already the French nuclear platform along with the Mirage-2000N, we know its designed to be able to withstand electromagnetic impulses after a nuclear weapon detonates, but what about the Typhoon ? Which manufacturer may be more reliable in providing help and support for developing the MRCA as the IAF’s next nuclear strike platform?

The typhoon like pretty much all military spec electrnics will be hardened against emp – just because you dont carry it doesnt mean you wont be exposed.

As regards assistance I suspect neither would assist,

It might… As I said, this is like a tennis game…

Look at this :
http://www.eurofighter.com/eurofighter-world/airshows-events/paris-air-show/le-bourget-blog.html

Considering that Rafale is doing its work just like planned, we’re talking about professional trolls.:D

Sales reps gotta love em eh? Or boil them slowly in oil.

I always feel Anybody quoting sales literature and taking every statement as gospel ie “the worlds greatest A2A/multirole/etc” is only deluding themselves after all dassault, Eurofighter, Boeing are hardly likely to state ” We have the 2nd best”

The Hawk line at HAL won’t close down anytime soon. They haven’t yet delivered all of the initially ordered 42 Hawk-132s they were to build, to the IAF. These 42 Hawks were supposed to have been delivered beginning in 2007 till 2011.
There were some delays- as of Sep 2009, HAL had delivered 5 Hawk-132s to the IAF instead of the 15 that were supposed to have been delivered and as of April 2010, HAL had delivered 12 only, due to issues with BAe supplied jigs and tools.

These issues were reportedly resolved and only then was the follow-on order for 57 Hawks placed.

India actually holds the licence rights to manufacture Hawks as needed- and we’ve seen that in the case of the Jaguar, the assembly line was re-started and 37 new-build Jaguars rolled out of those lines. We may well see the same in the case of the Hawk- if the IAF wants to place further orders later on for attrition replacements or for increased training needs.

Wasnt the issue with the BAE jigs the fact that BAE wouldnt supply them until they were paid and the indian dept responsible hadnt paid them