Bristow Group to take over UK search and rescue from RAF | Page 2 | Vital Football

Bristow Group to take over UK search and rescue from RAF

My reservation is the complete lack of protectionism that the USA displays!

The UK has had interest in defence contracts for the future air tanker and the presidents personal transport....both bids won, and yet both projects cancelled in favour of US based projects,

The American reluctance / sheer idiocy of protecting technology is getting pathetic now, it has cost the UK a fortune in the JSF project. The only success was we made our Apache better than the original.

Regardless of the companies background, sorry etouffe....a us run company should have been allowed nowhere near it.
 
Seems from the little bit of research I did that there are many UK based company's winning contracts in the US, both the Public and Private sector.

I really don't understand a lot of the disdain some have for the US. I guess it's easier to blame us because of our size. If we are protectionists where did we learn it from, pot/kettle? I think that we are alike in more ways then most of British population would like to admit.

To be honest I think the UK is missing out on a great opportunity to be North Americas gateway to the east. Create a free trade agreement that ties the UK into NAFTA and you end up with 3 trade partners in the US, Mexico and Canada. It would give the UK greater leverage in the European Union and could push change across Europe in respect to trade and it would put the UK in the drivers seat. I know it's much more complex than that but an agreement could really set the stage for positive change.

I don't think Britain would go for it though as pride would get in the way. To many would worry about becoming a US puppet (as I see that fear in many comments) rather than look at the economic growth that it could provide.

UK firm wins £600m Iraq water contract
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-300201/UK-firm-wins-600m-Iraq-water-contract.html

Britain's BAE Gets $813 Million in U.S. Defense Contracts
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/22/britains-bae-bags-813-million-in-us-defense-contra/

Other than 2011 the trade has seen the US import more from the United Kingdom than visa versa
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c4120.html

British firm wins lottery rights
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/567705.html

ROCKSHORE WINS 6 FIGURE US CONTRACT
http://rockshore.net/rockshore-wins-6-figure-us-contract/
 
Etouffee - 5/4/2013 05:15


I really don't understand a lot of the disdain some have for the US. I guess it's easier to blame us because of our size. If we are protectionists where did we learn it from, pot/kettle? I think that we are alike in more ways then most of British population would like to admit.
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Good post. Hope you don't think I have disdain? My disdain is for our Government and the privatisation approach without the honesty of telling us what they are doing.
 
No JF I don't and that was really a generalization. I agree you should be upset and demand answers if they don't tell you what they are doing prior to doing it. In the case of Bristow and the contract this really has been an on going saga for several years, the problem is that until it was awarded most people didn't really care about it. The contract was already awarded once and then canceled due to anomaly's in the bidding process.

So I would say it's less about the government not telling you and more about it not being a hot topic for the news to present to you until it's over and done with. I can go back on the PPRUNE/Rotorheads website (Helicopter Pilots mainly) and they have a thread about this very subject that goes back to 2007.

The other thing is that privatizing is it's not just a UK issue as many governments have looked to it to save money in their budget. They forget however that they still have to regulate things and if it falls apart they have to step back in.

I can see why they are doing what they are doing in this case. The helicopters alone for this contract are about 27 million dollars US per aircraft. The sea kings at this point in time are money pits due to their age. So to be able to get out from 40 multimillion dollar aircraft which cost about a million+ a year to maintain. Then have someone else purchase and maintain the 22 replacement aircraft really is a win.

Another thing this does is allows some of the military guys who work in SAR now to extend their career beyond retirement and move into the private sector. This is something that was next to impossible prior to this deal. It's also creating 1500 British private sector jobs.

I really think that if looked at with the right information it could be a win/win for both the government and the people. Not all contracts will be like that and they should be questioned however some of this handing off of services can be a benefit.
 
As with J, I don't have a problem with a US based firm getting the contract, I have a general problem with there being a contract to win. As stated in an earlier post, for me some things are sacrosanct and a publicly run search and rescue service is one of them.
 
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