Challenger 2 or not.

[jarndice]

I have bu** ered up so many other peoples threads I am not about to start complaining now

[BarryC]

Uh, sorry but the Abrams driver sits in the center, just place it on the center line and everything else will Yield!.



Yes sitting on 550hp in traffic will grind the teeth down.



Barry

[Jimster]

Nice! Let’s hop a freighter and see how long we last in mid-town London!

[HERMAN BIX]

Ooooohhhh a super snake

Get a good trade on your flying saucer did you Mr C !!??

[SEAN66]

a report on this original thread lol

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/br ... r-BB18mnmz

not sure about some of the comments. every time the UK has a 'Defence review' it has meant a loss of both units and
capability all wrapped up under the new threat (and the fact no one really complains about the MOD getting its money cut instead of the NHS)

regards
Sean

[Tiger6]

IF the report is true (big If, as I understand there are programs currently in the works) its probably a realisation that if we were to buy or upgrade MBT's we would have to outsource the work to overseas firms anyway, so "why not buy off the shelf when we need it" on the face of seems a sensible attitude. (The fact that we would then have to spend years and millions tailoring those foreign vehicles to the Army's specific requirement always seems lost on the idiots in Government, but then I've never met a politician who didn't believe it was acceptable to kick the can down the street for their successors to have to deal with...)

I'm honestly struggling to remember the last British designed military vehicle to enter service - Challenger 2 itself probably. Everything that has come after that is either entirely foreign, or at least is an adaption of a foreign design.

[Son of a gun-ner]

(and the fact no one really complains about the MOD getting its money cut instead of the NHS)

It has NEVER been cut. Every year the the amount spent on the NHS goes up. The only time less was spent on the NHS was near the beginning when the initial spending on building new hospitals was understandably reduced as less were needed to be built.
Sadly the NHS has been overly used to pull at the heart strings of the voters by ALL parties.
The yearly spending information is all laid out for public viewing on the U Gov website.

[SEAN66]

Son of a Gun-ner,
I'm sorry I didn't mean to say the NHS budget had been cut.
my sentence was supposed to read that it is politically safe for the government of the time to cut the Defence budget, instead of the NHS. since the wall came down in 1990. The British Government has steadily eroded the Defence budget (even when we were in both Iraq and Afghanistan)
the last British designed military vehicle was the Challenger 2 based Titan and Trojan Engineer vehicles.
as an aside the original Challenger was designed in Britain but was for the Shah of Iran. the Government only bought them to stop the makers going bankrupt. (even though there was talk that the Shah had already paid for them ?)
regards
Sean

[silversurfer1947]

If you want information on the story of the Challenger 1, have a look at this. https://www-independent-co-uk.cdn.amppr ... 52972.html
The company that did the deal with the Shah was IMS Ltd, a private limited company, all of whose shares less one were and are owned by the British Government. And they were paid for upfront

[jarndice]

I was in Singapore (RAF Seletar) in the 60s and this twin piston powered propeller transport with American Civil identification and the title "Air America" along the upper fuselage landed,
I turned to a fellow crewmate and asked quite innocently "What's an American Civilian Aircraft doing landing at a Military Airfield"?
He looked at me and started laughing, He explained that "Air America" was the VERY well known name of the CIAs air arm.
You live and learn.