Telegraph: "Harrier Jump-Jets Sold For Peanuts'"

Harrier jump-jets sold 'for peanuts' - Telegraph

 

Top brass fury as US buys Harriers for peanuts | The Sun |News|Campaigns|Our Boys

 

Apparently this article is wrong, they have yet to be sold. MOD are considering the options.

The cynic in me thinks they realise it would be too damaging to announce selling them at the moment.

 

When I voted for Cameron I naively thought Defence would be in safe hands with a Tory government,how wrong can you be?
We've ended up with a Blair clone all glitter cheap talk,living up to promises is a mark of good Government,he won't!
BTW? Where is the promised referendum on the EU? he promised it,and he never said he would slash Defence.
A Liberal Left leaning Tory playing to the World stage for Kudos is a nice way of saying he's a Fecking disaster.
I also think he's a one trick pony so he does't care.
Next Election he'll go back to being a rich toff and all the remuneration that an EX-PM can earn.
He won't be missed I only hope his successor has some balls,he hasn't!

 

"Overseas buyers are being sought for the UK's Harrier aircraft following their withdrawal from service.

Defence procurement minister Peter Luff told the Financial Times that there are overseas markets for the Harrier, versions of which are operated by other countries.

Discussions are also said to be ongoing regarding disposal of the Nimrod MRA4 marine reconnaissance aircraft, also cancelled in the SDSR, although export deals are said to be unlikely.

"I don't want to speculate about the market," said Luff. "I don't want them to feel as if they are being bounced. But we are looking at the options quite carefully at the moment. There are overseas markets, particularly for the Harrier."

India and the US are said to be the most likely customers for the Harrier, with Italy and Spain also operating versions of the aircraft.

The Nimrod MRA4 may be more difficult to dispose of, however, with its surveillance technology making it difficult to export.

Unions have speculated that despite the £3bn spent on the project to date, the planes could become the MoD's "most expensive scrap metal".

One Nimrod had been completed and a further five are said to have been in the late stages of production when the order was scrapped in the defence review.

Kevin French, Unite chairman at BAE's Woodford, Cheshire site said that the Nimrods would probably end up being cut up for their scrap value.

"They will probably bring in a big company to crush them and cut them up, chop their wings off. It will be as crude as that. It will be the most expensive scrap metal they will have ever paid for.

"It is such a waste of money - why would you pay almost £4bn and not put the planes into service?"

BAE and MoD spokespeople said that they were both engaged in talks about the future of the Nimrods and could become the MoD's "most expensive scrap metal".

One Nimrod had been completed and a further five are said to have been in the late stages of production when the order was scrapped in the defence review.

Kevin French, Unite chairman at BAE's Woodford, Cheshire site said that the Nimrods would probably end up being cut up for their scrap value.

"They will probably bring in a big company to crush them and cut them up, chop their wings off. It will be as crude as that. It will be the most expensive scrap metal they will have ever paid for.

"It is such a waste of money - why would you pay almost £4bn and not put the planes into service?"

BAE and MoD spokespeople said that they were both engaged in talks about the future of the Nimrods and could not confirm what would happen to the aircraft."