Harrier sale 'embarassed' MoD

HAVE YOUR SAY

26 March 2012

This whole sale was an embarrassment and should never have been allowed to occur.

Along with the strategic disgrace which marked the cancellation of Nimrod, it showed that there was no strategy at all in the SDR.

In one fell swoop, this government has finished off indigenous design and manufacture of military aircraft in Britain.

With Nimrod, Harrier and even the hugely successful Hawk (now that Brough is to close) all ceasing manufacture, one has to question the patriotism of these decisions - and the patriotism of tying ourselves to multinational projects when countries like France and the US can now operate much more convincingly when selling their own indigenous military aircraft on the international stage.

This government's handling of defence is nothing short of disastrous. I struggle to understand the reasons and suspect that there is a dark cancer of anti-Britishness at the heart of the so-called "apolitical" civil service.
Michael - Hertfordshire

26 March 2012

It is especially embarassing given that MoD is now considering reverting to the STOVL variant of F-35 having previously decided it was not cost-effective.

However, Murphy shouldn't crow as under his party's leadership, the UK scrapped the FA2 Sea Harrier which had it been fitted with the AV8B/GR9A 'big-wing' would have still been an extremely capable platform. As it was, that decision made Harrier an easy choice when SDSR 2010 was looking for money-saving options (not capability retaining ones).
AW Employee - Yeovil

26 March 2012

The Government directed that the budget had to be cut. The MOD, which consists of civil servants and uniformed personnel, developed - in conjunction with the Air Staff - options for achieving this goal, as they were duty-bound to do. The Government decided which options to adopt(the Prime Minister revealing, when he expounded on the outcome, that he didn't know a Typhoon from a Tornado). How this well-established process could be interpreted as evidence of "a dark cancer of anti-Britishness at the heart of the so-called "apolitical" civil service", I fail to comprehend.

The decision to close Brough was BAe's, and their official line is that production will move to Samlesbury/Warton. The Nimrod MRA4 project had become an embarrassment, due to BAe as much as to anyone else: the previous government should have taken the decision to cancel it years ago. As for Harrier, however arguable it may be that the Government's decision to scrap the fleet was wrong, it ceased manufacture about 20 years ago and had received its last upgrade. And design and manufacture of the second-generation Harrier was, in any case a collaborative project with the US.
Stan - York

26 March 2012

The FA2 was first and foremost a fighter which evolved multi-role surface attack capabilities; as such; the smaller wing was required for the flight envelope the ACM's necessitated.
Shaun - Ex-RNZN

27 March 2012

It would have been interesting to see what the performance of the FRS2 would have been with the extra thrust of the 1161 RR engine (20% extra).

I suspect it would have approached that of the VSTOL F35 for speed and acceleration, perhaps even it would have been supersonic in level flight.

Of course the UK MOD could not wait to scrap the SHAR. Too independent and not US enough. It could have gone on to 2020 no problem and as proven in the Falklands and in disimilar combat tarining since, have been a credible naval strike fighter.

Now the Yanks have ballsed up the Harrier replacement - why don't we in the UK develop a Harrier III demonstrator. The US can collaborate - but we will be the lead etc. Unlikely but if we were France that is what would happen.
Martin Bayliss - Stroud

27 March 2012

...There was also the cost of refitting the CVS's too..
Shaun - Ex_RNZN

20 April 2012

Do not forget, that prior to their election, Osbourne and Cameron promised the septics that they would buy more equipment from the US.

This was revealed by Wikileaks
Ian Skinner - Enfield