On 17 Feb 2004 02:00:02 -0800, Myedniy Vsadnik
wrote:

An article in the Sunday Times at the weekend seemed to be heavily
hinting that some major cuts are imminent for the RAF. Does anybody
have any thoughts and they might or should be?

snip

Nimrod MRA.4 would be a more likely candidate for the chop. We once
again are unable to work the alchemy of transmuting the base metal of
the 50s Comet airframe into the gold of a modern military aircraft.
Nimrod AEW.3 redux. I could see a situation where MRA.4 is chopped,
the current kipper fleet soldiers on until 2010-2012 and the RAF then
gets half a dozen of whatever wins the US DoD MMA requirement.


The alchemy has already been done. The problems have nothing to do with
re-lifing the fuselarge, redesigning the wings and installing new engines.
That was done years ago (though needing new wings did come as a surprise
to BAe).

The delays and costs are down to systems integration, and rediculous,
continous, ongoing changes to the specification. Many suppliers sold BAe
off-the-shelf products that didn't exist.

Don't think that we'll give up Nimrod and wait for America to build
something: They're waiting for us to finish Nimrod so that Boeing can
nick the code (paid for by the MoD and BAe) and use it for themselves.

MR2 is the finest MPA in the world. MRA4 will keep Nimrod there for many
years to come. Unfortunately for us, we don't have any spare Commets to
sell the yanks (or anyone else), and the USG would never buy in to an
Airbus solution.





--

....And so as the little andrex puppy of time scampers onto the busy
dual-carriage way of destiny, and the extra-strong meat vindaloo of fate
confronts the toilet Out Of Order sign of eternity... I see it is time to
end this post.