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New UK army Ajax looks like it's not that good


npb748r

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57348573

 

No great surprise that a military contract is both over overrunning in timescales and budget, that seems to be standard however this one looks like there's some design problems as well. I'm no expert in armoured vehicles but it strikes me that it will need to be able to reverse over an obstacle that is higher than 20cm's, the maximum that the new Ajax has managed to achieve so far.  Not sure if this is General Dynamics or MOD fault however it doesn't look good for all concerned. We should have got British Leyland to build it based on an Allegro.

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Hey, at least its not the three, 4.2 billion PER unit Zumwalt class destroyer which were designed and built around a gun system that used special projectiles whose procurement was cancelled, making the guns useless cause that's all they can fire. Plus they were designed with a hull shape that possibly makes them susceptible to rolling over in heavy seas. Or the 4 LCS's that are going to be decommissioned, all being 12 years old or less, of which, several had problems with of all things, galvanic corrosion. I mean, who woulda thunk a a $700 million warship would need some kind of protection against galvanic corrosion???:doh:

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40 minutes ago, Panzerwomble said:

20 year old design , started at 19 tonne .............now a 40 tonne reconnaissance light tank ...can't go fast ....cant go anywhere for long and can't go backwards ....MOD procurement at it's best ...

 

Yeah, well - that's how between-wars procurement always is. Shifting requirements, budget cuts, scope creep, bright ideas, last war requirements, committee management and so on. I bet that's how many of your Blackburn delights came into being

 

If you're lucky, one or two of these projects will actually have some value in the next war. Not all those beautiful 1930's Hawker biplanes, just the dowdy Hurricane

 

Richard

 

 

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7 hours ago, RLWP said:

 

Yeah, well - that's how between-wars procurement always is. Shifting requirements, budget cuts, scope creep, bright ideas, last war requirements, committee management and so on. I bet that's how many of your Blackburn delights came into being

 

If you're lucky, one or two of these projects will actually have some value in the next war. Not all those beautiful 1930's Hawker biplanes, just the dowdy Hurricane

 

Richard

 

 

 

A good point , always planning to fight the last war ...in this case more "up armouring" than conventional roles will ever need . And don't forget the job trading .......£5.5bn to secure a whole 250 jobs in the heart of classic tank building country Myther Tydwell  :BANGHEAD2:........meanwhile we loose 10% of pubs and restaurants employing who knows how many in just 12 short months ......

 

I'll stop now............. and relax in the only way I know .......

 

 

ahh...... Blackburn ...in this case a Beverly having just given birth to a new baby DUKW

 

flying-dukw.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, eoyguy said:

Hey, at least its not the three, 4.2 billion PER unit Zumwalt class destroyer which were designed and built around a gun system that used special projectiles whose procurement was cancelled, making the guns useless cause that's all they can fire. Plus they were designed with a hull shape that possibly makes them susceptible to rolling over in heavy seas. Or the 4 LCS's that are going to be decommissioned, all being 12 years old or less, of which, several had problems with of all things, galvanic corrosion. I mean, who woulda thunk a a $700 million warship would need some kind of protection against galvanic corrosion???:doh:

 

Can we swap you for some Daring Class destroyers , perfect ship apart from when it's warm ...and then the engines give up ...and kinda everything else .??

 

https://www.forces.net/services/tri-service/5000-faults-recorded-type-45-destroyers

 

 

 

Edited by Panzerwomble
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18 hours ago, npb748r said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57348573

 

No great surprise that a military contract is both over overrunning in timescales and budget, that seems to be standard however this one looks like there's some design problems as well. I'm no expert in armoured vehicles but it strikes me that it will need to be able to reverse over an obstacle that is higher than 20cm's, the maximum that the new Ajax has managed to achieve so far.  Not sure if this is General Dynamics or MOD fault however it doesn't look good for all concerned. We should have got British Leyland to build it based on an Allegro.

 

"Mr Tusa said the only thing the Ajax programme seemed to have delivered so far was tinnitus."

From the article.

 

"The only thing the Zumwalt class has delivered is a pain in the budget."

Anon.

 

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23 minutes ago, D.B. Andrus said:

 

 

"The only thing the Zumwalt class has delivered is a pain in the budget."

Anon.

 

 

Only $800K a shell ....honestly the Pentagon has no sense of humour at all ....I thought the idea of a rail gun was that it could project anything as long as it was steel....... pretty much ? 

 

161809480-260945685735387-58826014002989

 

 

 

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My usually under the radar plan during product development was to make people write requirements.  This is hard.  These are boring and no one likes confrontation. MBA types and political types however would buy in because their personal visions (many narcissistic folks) would be recorded. They would then quickly get bored with the details. All the remaining requirements were not about having them heros of the company’s vision; no cares. The huge number of useful requirements would then be written.  Yupp weight and moving through the doorways of the worlds Operating Rooms would be there (tanks ground clearance).  Much other truly boring items and categories were included. During scheduling development allow all the fluff to be included with quiet intentions to later allow MBAs to cut schedule to get a pat on the back career enhancement.  Many prototypes and testing against requirements allowed focus on design that needed to be fixed. Sneak customers in for requirements validation. The whole process was about the needs of people. 

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On 6/3/2021 at 10:11 PM, npb748r said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57348573

 

No great surprise that a military contract is both over overrunning in timescales and budget, that seems to be standard however this one looks like there's some design problems as well. I'm no expert in armoured vehicles but it strikes me that it will need to be able to reverse over an obstacle that is higher than 20cm's, the maximum that the new Ajax has managed to achieve so far.  Not sure if this is General Dynamics or MOD fault however it doesn't look good for all concerned. We should have got British Leyland to build it based on an Allegro.

 

Just to be correct on nomenclature........ there is no "UK Army" ...it is the "British Army"  part of the "British Armed Forces " for the past 361 years at least .:)

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5 hours ago, Panzerwomble said:

Just to be correct on nomenclature........ there is no "UK Army" ...it is the "British Army"  part of the "British Armed Forces " for the past 361 years at least .:)

if we want to be entirely correct it's no longer large enough to be classified as an army !! :)  

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