WI West Germany buys British?

[Hood]

An interesting on the origins of the Tornado that I have just stumbled across.

A Day Late and a Jet Short

The Cold War had bound France and Britain together as crucial NATO allies. However, relations between the states were frequently underhanded

www.epoch-magazine.com

 

[Rule of cool]

An interesting on the origins of the Tornado that I have just stumbled across.

A Day Late and a Jet Short

The Cold War had bound France and Britain together as crucial NATO allies. However, relations between the states were frequently underhanded

www.epoch-magazine.com

An excellent article on the importance of politics in major military procurement programmes. It is at least as important as the tech specs people obsess over, indeed it frequently overrides the tech specs as political benefits can be accrued that outweigh some technical advantage.

Its interesting that France was always trying to take the lead in any joint development effort, and she and Britain didn't need the technical input of partners, just the cash and orders.

I have a feeling that if Britain did enough to get West Germany to buy the Lightning and Buccaneer then its aviation industry would have been strong enough to behave like France. Instead of the Jaguar and AFVG Britain would start her own advanced trainer and Lightning replacement programmes and looked for junior partners to help with the bills.

 

[Rule of cool]

Is Germany buying british SAMs realistic `? Bloodhound instead of Nike Hercules ?

West Germany used both Nike Hercules and HAWK so could make use of the Bloodhound and Thunderbird. I don't know how they'd go about it, if the British SAMs were ever considered for the requirements. However like a Lightning procurement it would likely have caused major spinoff effects.