There was a crash program announced recently where by the Chinooks that have spent so long stuck in hangers (after a procurement scandal that was horrendous even by MoD standards) were to finally be made usable, by giving them the Thales top deck avionics system. On top of that a number of Merlins from another countries orders were to be taken over to add to the existing Merlin fleet.

That was a smaller glimmer of competence and decisiveness that is highly out of the ordinary for the MoD. Consequently (and this is only my opinion) the UK’s helicopter policy over the last decade + has been an unmitigated disaster. It is true that both the Merlin and the Apache have turned out to be highly capable types but the Merlin should have come earlier and more should have been ordered in the first place and we all know about the incompetent pilot training policy that was used for the Apache pilots. The Apache may have been an expensive procurement but the extra power that they got over all the other variants has turned out to be very useful, almost certainly worth it. I had a thread here about the effectiveness of the Apache in Afghanistan.

As I type this I am listening to Channel4 news and it is being reported that senior military chiefs have launched a savage attack on the PM in the house of Lords over defense expenditure.

You know what really angered me? The lack of pride.

Scotland showed it against Italy, Wales displayed it against Germany and Israel most certainly showed it against Russia.

But not our pampered “world class” millionaire playboys. 😡

For my money, no-one who played for England last night should ever be offered the privilege of playing for their country again – with the exception of Crouch who gave 100% and ran himself into the ground in the lost cause of playing as a lone target man with bog-all support.

I wouldn’t give you 2p for the rest of the shower – no matter who they play for.

And thats it right there. These guys get payed vast vast sums, by the time they reach the England squad they have already achieved everything they want/need to achieve……money and lots of it.:mad:

But hey if things really do start to go bad they can just go over to the states to get payed even more for doing even less in a place where nobody cares about their sport!:D

Whether you are in a Ford Ka or a Cadillac Escalade, if you are tavelling at speed and you hit either another car or a pedestrian it will make little difference.

Knowbody should have to justify what car they drive……period.

well perhaps talks of entire budget are bit far headed. My orginal claim (i just read it myself:D) was that such blow would have effect on those who were suggesting and desinging anti-sverldov desings. You may be rigth that to the budget it wouldnt have had any effect, but what to do with that budget inside the navy.

Thats the point, the anti- sverdlov designs were all cancelled for monetary reasons, the sinking of a sverdlov would not have stopped that.

As expected, you go straight to a personal attack rather than trying to substantiate you statements with facts.

Nothing personal about it at all.:rolleyes:

Whilst we are at it does anybody have any pictures of the Ye-155M?:confused:

Thanks in advance sealordlawrence.

OK be facetious if you like butI just wish more 4X4 owners could provide the same ammount of justification for owning one.

I am not being facetious, why should anybody have to justify what car they own? It is exactly the same as food, why should one person have to justify eating five course meals when a bowl of rice will suffice?:rolleyes: