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What good news, the EADS consortium has won the contract for the tanker aircraft for the Royal Air Force. At last we'll get some new tanker aircraft (Airbus A330s), rather than the second hand Boeings we were being offered from our friends at Boeing and BAE Systems.

Here's the BBC link...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3429111.stm

Charlie

Well, that's good news but I will be sad to see the wounderful old VC-10 go.

of course the RAF buys those A330's...why the hell would they go for the new 767 tanker (Europe supports Europe)...EADS all the way!

meh should have waited for the 7E7 to see what it can do. The A330 is starting to get old, and since the MOD cant afford this anyway.
Side note that huge

meh should have waited for the 7E7 to see what it can do. The A330 is starting to get old, and since the MOD cant afford this anyway.

You don't need a brand new unproven (& expensive) aircraft for a tanker. I would think the A330 would be ideal. I agree with Bones that the RAF should use European manufactured aircraft where possible,.

I agree with Bones that the RAF should use European manufactured aircraft where possible,.

Personally i feel that, the most suited aircraft for the job should be used, no matter its point of origin. Thats why they are still struggling to replace the navy's lynx, nothing else either in production or in the planning stages meets the criteria for the job. Although two most likely candidates are still either a new lynx or the blackhawk or seahawk as i believe its known. like most government funded projects, the MOD is now on a huge cost cutting venture, and i gaurentee that this european deal offered some shall we say under the table benifits remember this is airbus.

of course the RAF buys those A330's...why the hell would they go for the new 767 tanker (Europe supports Europe)...EADS all the way!

The 767's weren't even going to be new... Ex BA I believe...

Charlie

meh should have waited for the 7E7 to see what it can do.

The VC10s would've been scrapped by then...

Charlie

Personally i feel that, the most suited aircraft for the job should be used, no matter its point of origin. Thats why they are still struggling to replace the navy's lynx, nothing else either in production or in the planning stages meets the criteria for the job. Although two most likely candidates are still either a new lynx or the blackhawk or seahawk as i believe its known. like most government funded projects, the MOD is now on a huge cost cutting venture, and i gaurentee that this european deal offered some shall we say under the table benifits remember this is airbus.

Craig. I realise you don't like Airbus & as your Dad works or is involved with MoD work you might have inside knowledge that I'm not privy to. You shouldn't need me to tell you that BAe doesn't have a good track record over the last few years. Almost everything they've been involved in for the MoD has either been a complete failure or gone way over budget before being scrapped. This has cost the taxpayer of this country countless millions of wasted pounds & there have been some suggestions of fraud.

This deal sounds promising to me & I suggest that Airbus can hardly do worse whatever you might think of them. It's at least worth a try & keeps some jobs in this country.

personal feelings about airbus aside, IF the A330 is the right fit for this area then sure its a good thing a great thing even, yes it keeps jobs here which is never a bad thing. If this deal was made to cut costs only without looking into all the options, once again the taxpayer will no pun intended Pay. only time will tell if the MOD got it right, lets hope they did as they sign my dads pay cheque and without that theres no roof over my head

But like you pointed out, the MOD is useless

You're putting words in my mouth. The MoD is a government department & has been taken advantage of for years. Any contract for the government usually ends up with various companies & their directors lining their pockets by cheating the government & therefore the taypayer. This is fraud on a large scale by any other name. BAe is one of the worst culprits. It seems they have finally been rumbled &, I for one, am delighted.

i appologise for the mistake and will make sure to change that statement:)

we can discuss this (767 or A330) but the preference will always go out to a plane built in Europe (for the RAF)...that's just the way it is! the USAF doesn't use the VC-10 either...and in the future it will buy the 767 instead of the A330.

of course the tanking stuff is still new for EADS. Boeing has much more experience with it (eg the KC-135 series)...

personally i like the flying banana (for those who were at Fairford last summer)  ;)

Good choice for the RAF.

Canada has also gone the Airbus route for our tankers, some of our CC-150 Polaris (Airbus A310) strategic airlift planes will be dual-roled.

Much noise was made about the "Boeing tanker supremacy", but it's mostly spurious. We're talking about probe-and-drogue refueling, not flying boom. Boeing actually got into the probe-and-drogue business after many of it's competitors.

...The MoD is a government department & has been taken advantage of for years. Any contract for the government usually ends up with various companies & their directors lining their pockets by cheating the government & therefore the taypayer...

And isn't it strange how whenever there seems to be a court case involving/against the MoD, a certain Ms Cherie Booth (Mrs Cherie Blair to those of you unfamiliar with British politics, or according to Jeremy Clarkson, the "Frog") is always willing to take it on...

Charlie