Timmymagic wrote:
Have a look at my post on page 191 on the delivery schedule. There should be 18 at Marham by the end of the year. I think BK-03 and the 3 ITF aircraft are the 'non-carrier capable' aircraft. BK-03 is the one that will cost a lot of money to update to Blk.IV standard (still far cheaper than buying a replacement though).
Finally had time to take a peep of what the Delivering Carrier Strike report says about F-35s; among other things
"paragraph 1.16 of the NAO Report says: “The Department has increased the approval limit four times since we reported in 2017, an increase of £1.4 billion (15%).” Does that mean that when you said the cost was coming down, you were talking about the basic procurement of each jet?
Charlie Pate[MoD finance chief]: That is right, Mr Gardiner. The basic price of each jet is coming down, and that was what I was referring to, with the next three lots falling over 13%. May I explain the increase in that cost that is referred to in the Report?Q53
Barry Gardiner: I think it is explained in that paragraph, where it says: “It has a strategy of incremental acquisitions, and the approvals were for capability upgrades, integration of UK weapons and sustainment costs”. I presume the capability upgrades were to those jets, but the compatibility upgrades—the integration of UK weapons—were for those jets, so were you not playing with semantics when you said the cost has come down? "
Left unresolved in the gentlemanly discussion. Will just note that the percentage changes at unit and aggregate level are in line
... they just happen to be of opposite signs (rolling off the production line a "-" and in use +)
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)