>>
>> That's fair enough, PU, but why does the taxpayer have to pay for all the
>> development costs? Because that's in effect what's happening on these overruns the MOD allow... I wonder just how many of these companies would still be in existence if they were
>> made to work to a fixed price contract and forced to deliver at that price
>> like the real world has to...
Good point, the gov did that with the new a400m, airbus issured them they weren't like all the other defence companies they mainly sold to private companies which demanded fixed costs and strict timescales. Yet when it overan we gave them the same amount of money for fewer aircraft for political reasons.
>> The Government bodies (not just the MOD) have a truly awful record of price and
>> time over-runs with stuff they buy, its about time it was stopped. If that means
>> we buy stuff developed by others then so be it, we can still insist on
>> construction of the stuff in this country if you want to keep jobs, which is
>> what many countries already do (incl the US with the Harrier!)...
Whatever country we buy from would no doubt suffer the same problems, the US have at least as many similar problems if not more. The main problem is politicians, things get stopped or changed for political reasons and then you get the time and cost problems, all govs suffer from it, to a lesser or greater extent.
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