Post by: Ben on November 24, 2006, 05:58:17 PM
He kept mentioning the whole "charity project" thing just like this article. I'm not sure I'd be raising my hand to pilot this aircraft...
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/24/ndefence124.xml
Minister furious over £20bn bill for Eurofighter
By Neil Tweedie
Last Updated: 2:07am GMT 25/11/2006
The Government threw down the gauntlet to the makers of the Eurofighter yesterday, warning that it would no longer tolerate industrial inefficiencies that had effectively turned the project into a "charity".
The Eurofighter
The cost of a single Eurofighter: £66.7 million
The attack came as new figures suggested that the cost of buying 232 Eurofighters for the RAF is set to top £20 billion making it far and away the most costly weapons project ever undertaken by Britain.
Figures released by the National Audit Office, the official spending watchdog, put the current price of a single Eurofighter, known as Typhoon in the RAF, at £66.7 million. That compares to a forecast price tag in 2003 of £56.8 million.
In a press conference coinciding with the release of the NAO's annual report on major Ministry of Defence projects, Lord Drayson, the minister for defence procurement, criticised the four-nation European consortium, describing it as "not fit for purpose".
Ominously, he refused to confirm that the RAF would be allowed to buy the third and final batch of the 232 aircraft order, totalling 88 aircraft.
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Loss of some or all of the "Tranche 3" aircraft would threaten hundreds of jobs at BAE plants in Lancashire.
"The current structure of the national collaboration and the industrial collaboration is not fit for purpose," said Lord Drayson, who criticised Eurofighter for charging too much for spares and the use of aircraft to test the new advanced air-to-air missile, Meteor.
The company, he said, had to be restructured if the RAF was to receive adequate support during the fighter's operational career.
Sir Peter Spencer, the civil servant in charge of procurement, was equally uncompromising, saying: "We are going to turn this charity into a business and a cost-effective business.
"We are not prepared to pay inflated prices for risks we believe should be under the control of industry."
For the second year running the MoD has been allowed by Parliament to exclude crucial figures on the Eurofighter from the NAO report to protect its bargaining position with the consortium.
The most important is the "current forecast cost" of the entire project to the taxpayer. In 2003 it was £19.67 billion. Increases in labour costs and changes to software will easily take that figure higher if Tranche 3 is bought.
Military experts said the temptation for the Government to cut some or all of Tranche 3 must be enormous, given the pressures on the defence budget caused by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The MoD has not yet signed the final contract committing itself to the purchase. Asked about Tranche 3, Lord Drayson said: "We are absolutely interested in negotiating."
Critics of Eurofighter-Typhoon argue that it is a Cold War relic that has consumed far too much of the MoD's scarce resources.
Conceived 20 years ago to combat agile Soviet fighters, the aircraft, made by Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, is only now entering squadron service after delays and doubts over its future. The RAF wants to use it in Afghanistan next year.
Post by: Stand_watie on November 24, 2006, 06:34:09 PM
...A glaring example was that apparently the Germans have a slick method to construct and attach the Typhoon wings. So is that what the Germans do in the project?...
I'm not a huge fan of most things German. That said, to give credit where I think it's due, I think that when it comes to engineering and fabricating reliable machinery, they have an excellent track record (along with the Swiss, the Swedes, and the Japanese).
Disregarding obvious beneficial cultural strengths for the sake of multi-cultural "fairness" in government is foolishness, IMHO.
Post by: Sylvilagus Aquaticus on November 24, 2006, 08:21:55 PM
Regards,
Rabbit.
Post by: Leatherneck on November 25, 2006, 03:50:46 AM
Quote
Figures released by the National Audit Office, the official spending watchdog, put the current price of a single Eurofighter, known as Typhoon in the RAF, at £66.7 million. That compares to a forecast price tag in 2003 of £56.8 million.
Pikers. The USAF is paying three times as much for each F-22. Hell, want a bargain? The program to replace the Presidential helicopter ("Marine One") is a $7,000,000,000 program. That will buy 23 helicopters. You do the math.TC
Post by: MechAg94 on November 25, 2006, 11:59:57 AM
Isn't Britain involved in the Joint Strike Fighter?
Post by: El Tejon on November 25, 2006, 01:13:39 PM
In Hell they are the police.
<==finally a use for this thing!
Post by: Preacherman on November 25, 2006, 01:42:50 PM
Quote
November 25, 2006
Pilotless fighter plan gets £200m
David Robertson, Business Correspondent
Within the next two weeks the Ministry of Defence will award BAE Systems a £200 million contract to create the UKs first unmanned fighter jet, The Times has learnt.
The project will contract BAE to develop a technical demonstrator version of the aircraft. This will be a full working model with weapons and targeting systems, which will then form the base design for a future generation of fighters.
The £175 million to £200 million contract is thought to be the largest experimental project financed by the MoD since it funded the development of the Eurofighter Typhoon. BAE is leading the project with Rolls-Royce, Smiths Industries and QinetiQ as partners.
Western armed forces are increasingly using technology to remove humans from harms way, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are likely to be a key element of this.
They are already operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting soldiers and pilots with surveillance and reconnaissance images.
The MoD has made UAV technology a strategic priority. The Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), published last year, says that UAV technology must be developed in the UK. It is too important for the UK to rely on buying the technology from elsewhere.
The DIS also reveals that the MoD is planning to replace fighter pilots with computer-flown planes in about 30 years, once the current Eurofighter Typhoon and the proposed Joint Strike Fighter reach the end of their lives.
Pilotless fighter plan gets £200m
David Robertson, Business Correspondent
Within the next two weeks the Ministry of Defence will award BAE Systems a £200 million contract to create the UKs first unmanned fighter jet, The Times has learnt.
The project will contract BAE to develop a technical demonstrator version of the aircraft. This will be a full working model with weapons and targeting systems, which will then form the base design for a future generation of fighters.
The £175 million to £200 million contract is thought to be the largest experimental project financed by the MoD since it funded the development of the Eurofighter Typhoon. BAE is leading the project with Rolls-Royce, Smiths Industries and QinetiQ as partners.
Western armed forces are increasingly using technology to remove humans from harms way, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are likely to be a key element of this.
They are already operating in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting soldiers and pilots with surveillance and reconnaissance images.
The MoD has made UAV technology a strategic priority. The Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), published last year, says that UAV technology must be developed in the UK. It is too important for the UK to rely on buying the technology from elsewhere.
The DIS also reveals that the MoD is planning to replace fighter pilots with computer-flown planes in about 30 years, once the current Eurofighter Typhoon and the proposed Joint Strike Fighter reach the end of their lives.
Post by: Leatherneck on November 26, 2006, 02:49:37 AM
On the other hand, an air-combat UCAV loses the constraints imposed on the fighter by virtue of having a soft pink body inside: like 9g turns. An opponent able to turn square 20g turns at 500 knots would be tough to beat in a dogfight. Fun stuff, though.
TC
Post by: m1911owner on November 26, 2006, 08:39:49 PM
And who exactly is insane enough to climb into the cockpit of this thing???
Post by: Ron on November 27, 2006, 03:45:51 AM
Quote
And who exactly is insane enough to climb into the cockpit of this thing???
A Frenchman?
Post by: Preacherman on November 27, 2006, 05:01:58 AM
Post by: roscoe on November 27, 2006, 12:54:26 PM
Post by: MechAg94 on November 29, 2006, 05:50:19 AM
