'Ere mistah, 'ow fast does it go?

AEW = Airborne Early Warning

not MR = Marine Recon

http://www.spyflight.co.uk/Nim aew.htm

Though this suggests the link between the radar and range was around the
heat-sinking of the fuel tanks; true but not the main issue.

The biggest issue was the "cost plus" contract structure. Because neither
contractor could commit to a price up-front "because the technology was
leading-edge" they were given the contract as "cost plus"; i.e. whatever it
costs plus an agreed profit margin% . This meant that they weren't
motivated to keep costs down and every time MAS went back to the MOD and
said "We could increase the resolution by this much if....", they would be
given the go-ahead to spend more.

Basically it was a cash cow and the moving target (sic) meant it was never
going to be finished.

 

Where were you based?

I worked on the tactical display at Hemel for a time

 

Officially at the AirRadio Division at Basildon, as a Field Development
Engineer for the Mission Systems Avionics.

Spent most of my time at BAe Woodford, with the aircraft, and some time at
Radlett with the radar development guys.

 

The big old inline inj pumps had a lub supply and didn't rely
exclusively on the lube qualities of the fuel, which is a nasty
cost-cutting habit that's been employed for years by the car makers,
especially on rotary pumps. Modern multi-fuel military diesels are the
same as the old ones in their tolerance of kerosene, along with big Cats
and many others - it's something that Caterpillar expect some users to
fuel with, as you will find Caterpillar tech docs dealing with usage of
kerosene.

 

A recipe for disaster then and trebles all round in the boardroom. A
contact who spend some time in procurement for the RAF always referred
to BAE as 'waste of space', never delivered on time, on budget or with
the promised functionality.

 

Were you ever in the Oxford Debating Society, perchance?

 

Seen what they're doing with the old engines?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7685049.stm

 

I really and genuinely hope they do hit 1000mph. It'll be pretty
amazing.

 

Indeed, especially as we all know that speed kills.

 

Wow!

 

Excellent stuff. Nice to see some constructive use being made of things,
instead of letting them lie around then scrapping them.

 

<Considers current frustration with having to deal with contracted out
suppliers of corporate IT support>

<rant>
Quite. XX won a contract which I understand locks the procurer in for at
least ten years[1], in competition against only one other company that
tendered. It is now a case of "Emperor's new clothes". Criticism of
those that signed up for it is not tolerated.

Classic case of the contract being too woolly. Far worse than the old
service level agreements we had with the in house IT lot. The most
trivial of tweaking required to applications is treated as a "request
for change" and charged for at ridiculous rates, and yet the most
fundamental tasks are being failed on.

An example. We warned them that disc space was running low on a server.
OK, so one factor was people using their quite limited allotted personal
space for, yes you guessed it, personal stuff. We warned them again, and
again. Eventually, the space got so low that, as I understand it, the
routine backup failed. Not the end of the world you might say, but they
didn't realise that backups were failing for three weeks. You can
imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth as we tried to deal with the
spin off from having to roll back to database tables three weeks old.

In private they confess to us that they are in error. In public an
internal email is sent round basically naming and shaming us for
allowing our server to fill up with 'unnecessary content'.

I could go on, and on...
</rant>

So Bear, can you provide me with a few key phrases to real push their
buttons the next time I get an opportunity to interact with them face to
face rather than through their diabolically bad 'e-services system'?

Email might be best.

[1] Apparently one other sucker organisation has already bought
themselves out of a similar contract and another saw the light at the
last minute before signing.

--
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| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

 

For sure, in the some of the cases I am aware of the other half is the
government deciding to provide/protect jobs by re-inventing the wheel
when what the service wanted was available off the shelf elsewhere.

 

OK, but I'll wait until the spittle dries on the screen and then try to
think of some specific scenarios that might fit with your experience.
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
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Appreciated.

No names, no pack drill but the 'big F' were the ones that didn't get
the contract.
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+