MOD helicopter dithering beggars belief
June 4th, 2008 by Defence Team — Overstretch, Welfare
Today the NAO released a report on airworthiness problems with Britain’s Chinook helicopters. In response to the findings of the report our Shadow Defence Secretary Nick Harvey expressed his disbelief:
“Even by the usual standards of MoD procurement sagas, this report really beggars belief.
It is scandalous that while our troops are desperate for helicopters in Afghanistan, eight Chinooks have been left on the tarmac back in Britain.
This is a dismal tale of dithering, bad planning, and the gross waste of public funds. It is incredible that millions can be frittered away on bad decisions and yet penny pinching on other MoD equipment has cost the lives of service personnel.
The MoD seems to be in a state of meltdown, yet Gordon Brown is offering neither concern nor leadership.”
1 comment so far ↓
The story I have heard is that the problem stems from the testing of the software. I am not 100% sure of the source, so it needs checking. The RAF has protocols for testing software to ensure that it works as advertised. Problem is this version of the Chinook was embedded software which cannot be tested by these protocols. So, it is not that there is necessarily anything wrong with the helicopters, just that the RAF are being inflexible with their protocols. I would check with Boeing to get their side of the story. I suspect that the same or similar Chinooks are in service with the US army, probably working satisfactorily.
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