Thursday, January 27, 2011
Nimrod scrapping
A fair opinion seems to be "Other countries are actually seeking to reinforce their maritime patrol capacity, with the new Boeing 737 P8A a strong contender ... the gap left by broken Nimrods should be readdressed."
IMO: India made a much better decision than the UK Government.
In short the Nimrod was past it, though old planes have a higher tolerance to variation in use. And the Nimrod's combat computer architecture was by Boeing. Their electronic-warfare fit was from Israel. Most of the MRA4's weapons were to be made in America. Its engines had "Rolls Royce" stamped proudly upon them, but were in fact made in Germany. The only British industry to get much of a boost from the project was that of restoring old aeroplanes.
Retraining or otherwise deploying redundant sections of the workforce is another matter, and in the present circumstances the traditional 'get on yer bike' policies of the Tories seems to be unwise. e.g. 'on yer bike to where ?' . Israel, Russia, China ? India is the best answer and it has less faults than the other three. Other alternatives like North Korea and Iran definitely carry problems with them, though sometimes the money may be good. And A.Q. Khan did well in Pakistan, though spent some time under house arrest as happens in such places.
IMO: India made a much better decision than the UK Government.
In short the Nimrod was past it, though old planes have a higher tolerance to variation in use. And the Nimrod's combat computer architecture was by Boeing. Their electronic-warfare fit was from Israel. Most of the MRA4's weapons were to be made in America. Its engines had "Rolls Royce" stamped proudly upon them, but were in fact made in Germany. The only British industry to get much of a boost from the project was that of restoring old aeroplanes.
Retraining or otherwise deploying redundant sections of the workforce is another matter, and in the present circumstances the traditional 'get on yer bike' policies of the Tories seems to be unwise. e.g. 'on yer bike to where ?' . Israel, Russia, China ? India is the best answer and it has less faults than the other three. Other alternatives like North Korea and Iran definitely carry problems with them, though sometimes the money may be good. And A.Q. Khan did well in Pakistan, though spent some time under house arrest as happens in such places.
# posted by uv : 4:27 PM
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