And having a massive “budget crush” in hands, where the hell, is the British MOD going to find the money to buy a few sqn´s of the MOST EXPENSIVE JET FIGHTER IN HISTORY?

Not to mention that the UK is already totally committed to buying 232 Typhoons which it can’t realistically back out of, which means it would have to flog off these ‘too expensive’ aircraft presumably at a loss so that it can buy replacement aircraft that are even more expensive.

:confused:

What a load of old claptrap.

The only reason for the crazy deal we have is to keep the capital cost off the governments books, & then the Treasury went & threw vastly larger sums at banks.

Have to agree doesn’t really seem any real point to it other than this, stupid decision.

Your not the first and certainly not the last to join the chorus calling for this PFI project to be ditched and moved over to a traditional straight up purchase. As it is with the financial crisis the banks are not keen on making the loans available to purchase the aircraft for the PFI consortium meaning the government with have to step in with public money anyway.

Also Australia selected the a330mrtt after the UK selected it yet they are taking delivery whilst not a single nut or bolt has been screwed together in respect of the UK order. The Australian ones are to a much better spec as well with the boom.

Apart from the restrictions it looks like it will offer very poor value for money, then there’s the fact that we won’t own the aircraft. It just looks like a really crappy deal full stop.

On another note due to the stupid restrictions in the PFI contract we can’t buy the refueling pods for the Airbus a400 transport which would allow us to refuel the Merlin HC3. Also precludes us purchasing a refueling capability for our new carriers via the V22 Osprey. The US Marines are funding a palletised refueling rig for the V22 to support their F35b off the Assault ships. A V22 purchase would solve the range and payload issues with the RN F35 purchase as well as introduce a suitable COD and MASC type.

Ditch it.

A French aquaintance tells me that AFP reported in France in the last couple of days that the French SSBN was also found to have damage to the Sail and to one of the fins once it got home. I have searched on the web but can’t see anything in English anywhere about additional damage.

Maybe Merlock could give us an update from the French perspective ?

I’ve seen a number of reports that have said the same thing over the past couple of days, Newsnow has been awash with them.

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Submarines–39may-have-hit.5000298.jp

THE British and French submarines that collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month while carrying nuclear missiles may have hit each other several times, it emerged yesterday.
It now appears the French vessel, with an arsenal 1,000 times more powerful than the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, suffered much more serious damage than officials have admitted.

The Royal and French navies claimed earlier this week that the two submarines, HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant, “briefly came into contact at a very low speed while submerged”.

The French navy announced the damage to Le Triomphant was limited to the glass and composite domed structure that houses its Thales sonar at the tip of her bow.

HMS Vanguard was reportedly seen returning to base at Faslane with scrapes and dents to her hull.

But now it has been revealed that Le Triomphant suffered significantly greater damage, with impacts to at least three separate parts of her structure.

Le Triomphant is currently moored at its base of l’Ile Longue, near Brest in Brittany, where its conning tower and the starboard sail plane attached to the conning tower are visibly deformed by the incident, the French regional daily newspaper, Ouest France, reported yesterday.

I’m almost positive that T45s don’t have flag facilities.

That is a big part of what they’re fighting about, the article suggests that since the order is probably going to be halved the Navy are expected to get most of them.