Chinook fiasco leaves Britain short of helicopters in Iraq

leftchick

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Wed Apr-07-04 09:36 AM
Original message

Chinook fiasco leaves Britain short of helicopters in Iraq

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/brit...

<snip>
LONDON (AFP) - A software blunder has left Britain short of Chinook helicopters in Iraq (news - web sites) and reliant on the United States to reach full battlefield capability, a British government spending watchdog said.

Eight of the Royal Air Force's Chinooks, worth 259 million pounds (394 million euros, 476 million dollars), were grounded because navigation software did not fit in the cockpits, said the National Audit Office (NAO) report.

Britain's helicopter fleet is "not fully equipped to undertake missions in certain operational conditions, including those recently experienced in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq," the report said.

The defence ministry accepted there was a "capability shortfall, particularly in the support helicopter area."

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Replies to this thread

- That reminds me...	alg0912	Apr-07-04 09:39 AM	#1
- yes on both counts...	leftchick	Apr-07-04 09:47 AM	#4
- How does software have problems	Superfly	Apr-07-04 09:41 AM	#2
- Limited memory in navigation processors. n/t	yella_dawg	Apr-07-04 09:48 AM	#5
- Certain they mean hardware......	pfitz59	Apr-07-04 09:49 AM	#6
- Chinook	yella_dawg	Apr-07-04 09:47 AM	#3
- Looks like a blunt banana	Jackpine Radical	Apr-07-04 10:57 AM	#7
- Actually it sounds like the Brits aren't too eager ...	white_rider	Apr-07-04 11:23 AM	#8

Cooley Hurd

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Wed Apr-07-04 09:39 AM
Response to Original message

1. That reminds me...

We haven't heard much from Basra in the last few days. Isn't it a Shi'a stronghold (and where British troops are based)?

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leftchick

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Wed Apr-07-04 09:47 AM
Response to Reply #1

4. yes on both counts...

Last I saw, yesterday perhaps, there were Shiaa fighters on top of a government building in Basra. I have not heard anything today.

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Superfly

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Wed Apr-07-04 09:41 AM
Response to Original message

2. How does software have problems

fitting in a cockpit? Did they mean "hardware"?

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yella_dawg

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Wed Apr-07-04 09:48 AM
Response to Reply #2

5. Limited memory in navigation processors. n/t

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pfitz59

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Wed Apr-07-04 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #2

6. Certain they mean hardware......

Probably Carlyle Group subcontractors!

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yella_dawg

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Wed Apr-07-04 09:47 AM
Response to Original message

3. Chinook

commonly known as the "shithook".

One of the most frightening war machines ever built. To the passengers, that is.

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Jackpine Radical

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Wed Apr-07-04 10:57 AM
Response to Reply #3

7. Looks like a blunt banana

with a rotor on each end.

I put more time in on those things than I care to remember. In combat assaults they'd often send the first platoon in on Hueys and the rest of the company in Shithooks. There's nothing quite like the sound an AK bullet makes coming up through the floor of a Shithook.

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Pale_Rider

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Wed Apr-07-04 11:23 AM
Response to Original message

8. Actually it sounds like the Brits aren't too eager ...

... to commit their Chinooks to the possibility of being shot at.

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