Closet Guy. Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 The MOD is a Government organisation, everyone knows the British and American Governments are in love with each other Erm, right. Thanks for that:| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Closet Guy. Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Philip Hammond, our Defence Secretary has announced that Jump Jets will now be used on our new Carriers, as it it too expensive to modify them to take normal jets. We are to purchase these F-35B jets from America. Sources say the cost of this U turn is £250 m (although the government says its a mere £40-50 million). Didn't we sell our Harriers to the Yanks for a knock down price not so long ago?. What a ****-up-can't we sack these idiots at the MOD?. Anyone remember when we designed and built our own jets then SOLD them to other countries instead of buying everything in from other places? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Philip Hammond, our Defence Secretary has announced that Jump Jets will now be used on our new Carriers, as it it too expensive to modify them to take normal jets. We are to purchase these F-35B jets from America. Sources say the cost of this U turn is £250 m (although the government says its a mere £40-50 million). Didn't we sell our Harriers to the Yanks for a knock down price not so long ago?. What a ****-up-can't we sack these idiots at the MOD?. The decision would appear to have a lot to do with lobbying from BAE. The carriers were originally designed with an option for a catapult, but BAE are now saying it will cost £2billion to install them, originally this was to be £200million. The reason BAE are doing this is that if we install them we will buy F18's initially and later F35C's which are very capable modern aircraft. We won't have a real need for our BAE maintained Typhoons and will probably stop upgrading them for roles that they should have done from the start. If instead we are limited to F35B's they will be less capable, carry less, stay on station for less time and go a shorter distance, the Typhoon may well still be needed and BAE keeps it's nose in the trough and income coming in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evildrneil Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 The carriers were originally designed with an option for a catapult, but BAE are now saying it will cost £2billion to install them, originally this was to be £200million. How in hell can carrier catapults cost so much!? They are hardly new technology... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxman Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Philip Hammond, our Defence Secretary has announced that Jump Jets will now be used on our new Carriers, as it it too expensive to modify them to take normal jets. We are to purchase these F-35B jets from America. Sources say the cost of this U turn is £250 m (although the government says its a mere £40-50 million). Didn't we sell our Harriers to the Yanks for a knock down price not so long ago?. What a ****-up-can't we sack these idiots at the MOD?. Well, we can obviously afford that sort of money, it's not like we are in a recession or anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 How in hell can carrier catapults cost so much!? They are hardly new technology... These are gas turbine ships remember, they don't generate steam which can be used for the catapult. Fortunately the US are in the late stages of developing an electro magnetic catapult, they've even said that if there are any running problems they will completely under write the cost of fixing them (they're installing it on their new super carrier anyway, so they'd have to fix them). The cost isn't for the catapult and arrestor gear itself though, it's the cost to install it. I think we'd do better as a country to sue BAE for breach of contract, the design of the carriers deliberately included an option to retrofit exactly this type of catapult. So to say that the cost of doing so has just increased 10 fold is a breach of contract and unacceptable. Even with that massively increased cost, this is still a short sighted decision, the F35B will be more expensive to run and maintain over a 50 year period than the combined cost of the F35C and the installation of catapult. The strategic defence review got it right, this about turn smells like massive lobbying/threats from BAE to protect their income stream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrangaroo Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Anyone remember when we designed and built our own jets then SOLD them to other countries instead of buying everything in from other places? Yep, I remember Vauxhall Cresta's as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy_bob Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Philip Hammond, our Defence Secretary has announced that Jump Jets will now be used on our new Carriers, as it it too expensive to modify them to take normal jets. We are to purchase these F-35B jets from America. Sources say the cost of this U turn is £250 m (although the government says its a mere £40-50 million). Didn't we sell our Harriers to the Yanks for a knock down price not so long ago?. What a ****-up-can't we sack these idiots at the MOD?. They get paid lots of money to make a balls up YOu pay lots of tax from your wages There wages are paid from your taxes So who is the idiot now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyclone Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Still them, unless you're suggesting that we have a choice about paying tax or electing idiots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Graham Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 Philip Hammond, our Defence Secretary has announced that Jump Jets will now be used on our new Carriers, as it it too expensive to modify them to take normal jets. We are to purchase these F-35B jets from America. Sources say the cost of this U turn is £250 m (although the government says its a mere £40-50 million). Didn't we sell our Harriers to the Yanks for a knock down price not so long ago?. What a ****-up-can't we sack these idiots at the MOD?. I have done a lot of work for the MoD and I have met lots of people who have been working with them for many years. The stories they tell about the abject waste and incompetence would fill several volumes. My experience tells me the people at the bottom are being let down by the public school educated fools at the top. The MoD is a classic case of individuals stepping on everyone's face to get to the top and then being completely useless. But, the real problem for the MoD is successive government's demanding we keep our own defence industry, to keep jobs, when we don't have any skills in the defence industry. We would do a lot better to buy "off the shelf" from other countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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