How the UK screwed up its chopper order

Times:

The shortage of helicopters in Afghanistan can be traced to a “disastrous” Ministry of Defence decision to try to economise by designing its own software, The Times has been told.

The MoD agreed in 1995 to buy eight Chinook Mk3s from Boeing for £259 million. The avionics software would have cost a further £40 million, but defence insiders say that the ministry wanted to fit its own software — in spite of a warning from Boeing that it might not work.

When the aircraft were delivered six years later, the ministry found that it could not design the software which meant that the helicopters could not fly in difficult decisions. They have been stored in climate-controlled hangars ever since, in spite of two military conflicts, and when they finally come into service the total bill will be at least £500 million.

Defence insiders said: “The MoD and RAF said they wanted to fit their own avionics software. Boeing told them that they would have trouble integrating their software, but the MoD believed it could do it better than Boeing. The MoD found it couldn’t design the software for the Mk3s, as Boeing had warned.”

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One of the reasons for this kind of screw up on defense expenditures is the high cost of socialism including the Brit's rationed health care system. The Daily Mail reports that the government is having to fly in doctors from other countries to treat patients at off hours at very high cost. It is work the local doctors want do at the salary imposed by the government. By putting the NHS ahead of defense the UK is getting poor performance from both. The evils of socialism are making the UK a poorer and weaker country.