Now, I’m just thinking, I could get my hands on a lot of kit for $10m. Taliban can pick up a Kalazhnikov for 10 bucks. We need to be careful how we allow costs to escalate. Is there really no alternative to creating a whole new vehicle. I’m not convinced by two things, one, that there is no alternative on the market. Two, I’m not convinced by the whole argument that components off the shelf (COTS)

is a security risk because it is beyond MoD controls. I don’t see the problem with buying kit on the market rather than trying to reinvent it at extra cost. On the ground in Afghanistan, the use of anti-ballistic matting hasensured the protection of soldiers in vehicles - a perfect example of an improvised solution that saves lives. Anti-ballistic matting is strapped to the cab for reinforcement of logistics vehicles so that only the cab is protected rather than the transported goods. How is this situation different from buying 4x4’s with towbars and making similar modifications. If the military is willing to modify their own vehicles for use in-theatre why not use modified components off the shelf (MCOTS)? I don’t understand.

Finally, the issue of contracting. Contracting is the equivalent of buying in goods in the worlds of service. Its possible that I’m not the only person who can’t be convinced of the demon which is COTS. Contracting to the US DOD is set to double in the next 10 years. As the points I mentioned earlier are testimony, no disclosure in Europe and a lack of a common machine language are just two examples of the lack of movement towards an industry based solution. In a world of failed Concordes, even now, it is the tendancy of Europe towards larger government by attempting to do industry’s job itself. In reality, a familiarity with the actual processes reveals a cringing level of bureaucracy. Europe tries to compete in might with America but does not at any point realise that our counterparts are actually quite at ease doing business with industry in a sensible way. In conclusion, I think we’ve fallen into an expensive and unrewarding relationship between our militaries, governments and industries.