Posted on 12/09/2010 8:53:52 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
£3.6 billion Nimrods dismantled for scrap
Nine brand new Nimrod surveillance aircraft, which cost taxpayers £3.6 billion, will be dismantled and scrapped without ever having flown.
By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent
The MRA4 planes, only one of which has ever left the ground, will be stripped of their equipment and abandoned following Coalition defence cuts.
The decision led to the Nimrods being branded “the world's most expensive pile of scrap metal".
Hundreds of jobs could also be lost, according to BAE Systems, which built the Nimrods.
The Strategic Defence and Security Review in October terminated the £3.6 billion order for new Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft.
Other aircraft retired in the defence review – including Harrier jump jets – could be sold intact to foreign countries to recoup some money.
But the MoD has decided that simply scrapping the new Nimrods is the “most cost effective option”.
BAE on Thursday said it had received a formal “contract termination” notice from the MoD, and halted work on the Nimrods at Woodford, Cheshire.
Nimrods, which fly from RAF Kinloss in Scotland, are equipped with long-range surveillance equipment for eavesdropping on communications and detecting movement.
The aircraft can provide vital support for Vanguard submarines carrying Trident nuclear missiles, by detecting Russian hunter-killer subs trying to follow them. Without the Nimrods, Britain is likely to ask the US and France to provide such anti-submarine warfare capabilities in future.
Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, the head of the Royal Navy has said he is “very uncomfortable” about the situation.
The “disposal” of the new Nimrods was confirmed in a letter from Peter Luff, the defence procurement minister, to Angus Robertson, the Scottish National Party MP who represents Kinloss.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
An awesome plane that I had the privilege to see fly!
Poor Nimrod - beautiful looking...
This is a crying shame, but we better get used to the new view as we are going to be facing the same difficulties. We are as much financially overextended as the Brits. It is a sad state of affairs which we brought on ourselves, thinking that the printing of money and the expansion of debt was the equivalent of increasing wealth. It isn’t as the 3rd raters who run everything are beginning to learn.
Who’s the Nimrod that made this decision?
(somebody had to ask....)
You would think somebody would want to buy those things.
I wonder if they could be made to run on 87 octane? (Not. My '87 420SEL Benz needs high test!)
It is incredible how gum't can just flush the fruits of the toils of their peasants, after lining a lot of significant pockets. Ours is just as bad, if not worse!!!
After consideration, I must conclude we are worse!
Are those missiles I see mounted under the wing and if so are they offensive or defensive?
We need the funds to pay for our cradle to grave soccer
hooligans!
We need the funds to pay for our cradle to grave soccer
hooligans!
A Nimrod is as Nimrod does.
Nobody had to post that but I did.
They'll run just fine on JET-A, and will do OK on highway (or farm use) diesel if you don't fly too high.
The Nimrod can carry anti-shipping, anti-submarine, stand-off land strike and air-to-air missiles.
Ship them to Davis-Monthan AFB and cocoon them at the boneyard. When/if the poofters running the UK govt. are replaced with a Churchill/Thatcher type, the aircraft can be reclaimed.
I’ll just be making runs to WalMart... ;>)
Cocoon them until a Churchill/Thatcher type appears...that was my thought exactly.
The scrap value can’t be that much. Why not save them?
How did “Nimrod” become a pejorative?
He was a Greek hero, a famous hunter, with a silly sounding name to the modern ear.
Well I guess Ajax is a kitchen cleaner, and Milo is a South American sports drink, and Sampson makes luggage.....
Look like they’re Harpoons, or the EU equivalent. Nimrod, like our Orions operate in the anti-shipping role as well as ASW.
Nimrod was a great hunter. But he is also blamed for building the Tower of Babel.
Beautiful airplane. Militarized version of the DeHavilland Comet-4. Had a chance to see one at Andrews several years ago and talk to the crew!
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