shark bait wrote:Ron5 wrote: they much preferred an Airbus solution
ahhhhh how good it could have been....... 15 years later we're doing the same thing and paying more for the privilege.
Are we not in danger of using the luxury of hindsight?
As a young holdy at Kinloss in the 90s my whisky addled mind (not the best evidence base I accept) can just about remember massive favouritism for the MRA4 over the other offerings, from users and industry. Typhoon hardly had a gleaming record at this point and plenty of scorn was poured by some on all sides on the idea that a civvy airliner could withstand the rigours of MPA work.
There wasn’t a lot of interest from other nations so the UK would likely be on the hook for the full conversion costs, and Airbus didn’t have the military sector and history it does now.
I’m sure finding people to now say they voted for the MRA4 at the time won’t be easy (much like Tony Blair!), but is it not too easy to shovel blame onto the treasury?
I think the way that such a large single source contract was put through shows that they just want to fill the MPA gap as quickly as possible and try and forget the Nimrod debarcle. Be thankful to whoever got Seedcorn up and running.