Posts
I don't know what I'm going to do when I grow up, but its gonna be BIG!You can look long and hard, but it is unlikely you'll be able to find a more shining example of government waste. As with most government waste, this project was started with the best of intentions. 10 years and $6.5 BILLION(£4.1 BILLION) later, I'm not so sure those good intentions were followed through on...
The project is the Nimrod MRA4. It is the last combat airplane Britain developed. The intent was to be able to patrol the Atlantic Ocean looking for submarines. The plan was to build 9 planes total.
Then the new government took over. With 1 plane completed and ready to fly and 3 planes at 90% complete, the government decided it would save itself from $3.19 BILLION in operating costs to kill the program immediately.
$6.5 BILLION already spent on the project. Kill it now to save $3.19 BILLION.
Lets recoup costs?
1.) 1 was complete, 3 were almost done, we can sell them, right?
Wrong - We don't want the folks who want them to have them. The folks we don't mind having them have no realistic need for them. Plus, its a very specific plane. To finish production and to maintain it in use would require its own specialized workforce.
2.) At least we're gutting them for parts, right?
Wrong(ish) - They're trying, but most everything on these planes are already truly obsolete. Remember, they were designed 10 years ago. According to a guy at the Ministry of Defense, you wouldn't put some of these components in a Play Station let alone a modern military aircraft.
3.) Just stop progress and store it until economies and budgets are restored to ridiculous levels, that'll save the money, right?
Wrong - Remember, these planes are already so obsolete, we can't even use most of the components. Plus, storing a project of this magnitude still requires a big building and crews to keep it up. Just throwing it in a garage out back ain't gonna work.
4.) We're not just going to cut it into pieces and sell it as scrap metal, are we?
You Betcha.
Spending $6.5 BILLION on a project and destroying the results...
THIS is whybritspaytaxes.
read more:Why smash up a brand new spy plane?(bbc)
1 comment:
And our own military gets so angry when we bring up the 'accountability' word.....is it really asking too much for updates and continuing approval for projects where the decimal point is really far off to the right? I think about all the things that could have been stopped before getting off the drawing board if people just asked questions....
I'd start with why
On a different note, the systems theorist in me loves this as an example of how complexity (through specializing one vehicle to look for one other vehicle) is incredibly costly. Complexification of your system doesn't always work and this is an example because they STILL aren't going to know where all those pesky submarines are.
Post a Comment