August 25, 2009

Helicopters not taking off

Did you catch the baffling story of incompetence in the Times about the ludicrous mismanagement of the purchase of eight Chinook helicopters? Apparently at the moment we only have 12 in Afghanistan…. And one of those was knocked out by a man with a beard firing a second-hand rocket at it the other day.

So wouldn’t it be nice if we could send out the eight ordered in 1995 for a mere £259million? Only we can’t because the MOD wanted to save £45 million and make their own software which is apparently needed to make them fly. And we’ve been reading about this disaster for years.

Now Boeing know a thing or two about a helicopter that they have been making since the Viet Nam war… and they suggested back in 1995 that it couldn’t be done. Now, some 14 years and £200million it appears that the MOD are prepared to agree with them.

It does seem utterly appalling that soldiers’ lives are so little thought of by our political masters. If you really must invade such god-forsaken places as Iraq & Afghanistan you would think you would have the decency and common sense to give the military what is needed to get that questionable job done. But no not a bit of it.

Even worse it seems Whitehall has been blithely lying to cover up its crass incompetence. You could argue that this 15-year fiction of the Chinook deal has cost lives. A Commons Committee has labelled it ‘one of the most incompetent procurements of all time’. And let’s face it; a bunch of MPs should be very familiar with incompetence

But there is some good news for our troops dodging bullets and roadside bombs in Afghanistan. Now the MOD is preparing to release the mothballed Chinooks downgraded to basic workhorses. So they will be getting a much cheaper & less flexible machine, eight years late – and at a cost of £69 million per helicopter.

Think about that next time a man with a beard knocks down a Chinook with his second-hand rocket. It took him about 10 seconds to b last out of the sky. But it cost the British taxpayer £69million, the army 15 years of patient waiting. I wonder when and if they will ever get any more helicopters.

Helicopters not taking off

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