NO USA SIKORSKY CHOPPERS - WE'VE EVEN BLOCKED DEALS TO KEEP SWEETHEART DEALS WITH BRITISH FIRMS!
The UK MoD has now confirmed it had twice in the past three years been offered deals to purchase US-made Sikorsky helicopters for the armed forces, but decided to press ahead instead with plans involving British firms.
This only goes to prove, that in the UK life is cheap and sadly disposable, whilst big business - and defence procurement is very big business - is still fat catting procurement with the Treasury and its ineffective junior department the Ministry of Defence.
It gets even better, the amateur 'Le Mans' driver and team owner Lord Drayson took a few weeks off to prep his old clapped out ie 'classic' Aston Martin. Curiously like the current Labour Government, it ran out out of steam a few yards from the end and had to be parked on the track.
But if Lord Drayson is the procurement minister and we are fighting TWO major wars, procurement should be a full time seven-day-a-week-business. WE HAVE SOME WARS ON AND THEY DON'T CLOSE DOWN FOR WEEKENDS OR SUMMER RECESSES!
So why was the good Lord SEEN quaffing champagnE on Eurostar and ligging at Le Mans? Ok, he owns the car, but frankly there are several works drivers available and he could have just gone over for a few days race included; but he chose to blank his Whitehall post for two whole weeks and clearly spent months before the big race, Aston Martin hugging (tree hugging didn't seem right).
Just imagine if the soldiers at home and in theatre decided to take a few weeks off to race a stately old crock around Le Mans? Now if he had done the procurement job properly and stood up to the bawbie counting, nail biting, former Scottish Televsion producer, son o'the manse soon to be gone prime minister and properly specified the choppers - to save lives in Affers (as the front line troops call it) and fast tracked them into service then his hobby could be accepted.
Here is my advice to MoD procurement. Go round the world and buy up all the available Chinooks military and private. When you have say, 60 or so, fly them back and start refurbing them, working at several locations and round the clock.
Hire in experienced aircrew from the private sector pay them a premium to get them in. Complete training of regular pilots alongside the hired in hands. Get the whole issue moving, at the moment its like stomping through treacle. And now M.P.'s are on Holiday.
If we are not prepared to pull out all the stops the clue is right there: PULL OUT the Americans are big enough to understand and they did take a couple of years before they joined us in World War II. We only finished paying off that war a couple of years ago!
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