I wasn’t implying that the problems persist, only that the problems have existed in the past and should be mentioned in any account of the weapon’s history and performance.

You will not that this website lacks much information on the Sa-80A1, relegating the massive problems with this to a footnote in the SA-80A2 section, where it says that the weapons were re-engineered. The article says the rifle was ‘fragile’ and ‘received a poor reception’.

Frankly, I feel that this is deliberately misleading, and totally fails to reflect the incompetence with which the weapon was designed, manufactured and handled by the MoD; (I say incompetent, criminally negligent is perhaps more accurate).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAR_330

According to this, the IAR330 was introduced in 1999, and a naval variant was introduced this year, and the production line is still open. Would just buying some IAR 330s be a good idea to fill the RAF requirement?

I agree, sell in Euros, that should make the job of selling a little easier.

There is less wrong with airbus itself and more just that it is a victim of the circumstances of the world economy at the present time.

A question for you garry,

What do you think is the most likely sequence of events that happened surrounding this affair?

I can’t decide whether you are just playing devils advocate or something else.

I’m not discounting the possibility that the RN were placing mines, UK plc has done some dodgey dealings in the past and i am sure will do so in the future. However, as you know, for reasons of international relations and many others, i and most others here believe that the mine theory is most unlikely.

What do you think happend?

England have some decent players, with Rooney (when behaving himself), wright-phillips, lennon, hargreeves and many others.

We have potential, but many of the players lack any passion whatsoever, they give up for the last half hour of every game, and have lacked a manager who can properly motivate them for years, all concerned should be ashamed with their efforts.

As such, I think that Croatia will be the team I cheer on. They beat England fair and square and showed some zeal and desire to win, which makes a nice change.

Of course specualtion is inappropriate at this time, and we should be more concerned with family members and friends affected by this tragedy.

But to say ‘yet another puma down’ is a little unfair, i think. Look at how many other coalition helos are lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I’m sorry, Garry, but I can’t agree with your logic.

Assume the Russian is being truthful, what would the UK gain by damaging/sinking a soviet ship with the soviet premier aboard?

The USSR would hold the UK responsible, and war would undoubtedly follow, in which case western europe and the US would be forced to fight too.

My main reason for thinking the russian claims about the mine are BS is the same as many here, the UK would have nothing to gain and everything to lose from such an action. Is it not infinitely more plausible that Crabb was on a spying mission, as opposed to sabotage?