Comments by "Chris Hayward" (@1chish) on "RAF engineer says retiring Hercules is 'a gut-wrenching feeling'" video.

@tomhenry897 I have seen some tripe on this subject but yours takes the prize. * We have 22 x A400Ms, 8 x C-17s and 14 x A330MRTT Voyagers. * We have squadrons of Challenger II MBTs with 143 being upgraded to Challenger III * Its not how many its how good. Unless you are looking to do a Putin and attack someone? * The Royal Navy has ships all round the world in every ocean.
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That is utter nonsense. The combined order for France and Germany is SIX! 3 of those are KC-130 tankers. Nothing to do with the A400M......
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@garagenigel Oh here we go ... You do realise there are ranks of special military advisors at the MoD? Its not just politicians. And I will trade current DefSec Ben Wallace for all of the last Labour idiots. I mean Geoff Hoon?
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Errr .... we have 22 x A400m aircraft that are replacing 14 x C-130s. do keep up.
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Well once again this will drag out the armchair Air Commodores spouting copy / paste nonsense. And none seem to understand that we have 22 x A400Ms replacing 14 x C-130s and each one has twice the payload, twice the space and twice the range...
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@Junglie_ex Well just because C-130s developed cracked wing spars doesn't mean the A400Ms will. But we also have C-17s and for palletised freight (which shouldn't be in a high volume freighter anyway) we have the A330MRTTs. We have replaced 14 x C-130s with 22 A400Ms, each one giving double the payload, double the volume and double the range. You go figure the extra capability...
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Why is it a bad decision? What can the C-130 do the A400M cannot do?
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@TheBenj30 Last point first: Well that explains you ability to re-write facts. The Defence Budget is the largest it has ever been and not just on Ben Wallace's watch either. You really want me to list all the debacles Labour DefSecs have inflicted on us starting with TSR2, P1154, Short STOVL Freighter, CVA01 carrier, Type 83 etc etc etc ....
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@heinedenmark No you don't have any idea.
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@heinedenmark No I don't believe you. Either put up or shut up.
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@Junglie_ex Why would they?
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@miskaknapek And what 'saga' is that?
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@bacburrito4225 Dear god not beeding Nimrod again 🤦‍♂🤦‍♂ The MR4 was a disaster, years late and billions over budget. All because we tried to fit very old handmade fuselages to computer built wings. The earlier Nimrods were flying coffins. It was a kindly death. MR4 should never have been proposed on a Nimrod airframe and new stripped A320 aircraft should have been bought and fitted out with our systems. Anyway we now have 9 x Poseidon aircraft.
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@davidburke5782 No David I do not and I never said so. Because 'Fleet Maintenance' right? No fleet is 100% available unless its war when busted airframes are flown. So don't try to be clever with a stupid question. What I can tell you is that the A400M was proven to be far more serviceable in its fullest sense in a detailed report than the C-130 over a period of 19 months. Like 75% (A400M) to 60% (C-130).
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Sorry jamie its had 25 years of very hard operations and cranked up too many hours. Maintenance is now expensive as airframes are stressed. And why would we keep the spares and training costs for 14 smaller aircraft when we have 22 larger more efficient aircraft?
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@miskaknapek Oh dear god no not bleeding Brexit! What is it with you Remainers? And no we are not going back to the EU thanks all the same.
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@imeeky_4635 well keep peddling that nonsense if it makes you feel good. Quite why you 'experts' keep writing this I have no idea. 2/3 of their fleets are not down for maintaining (by which I mean unplanned maintenance / failures) and you are suggesting 6 shared aircraft will replace them? 🤣😏 A recent report showed the RAF A400Ms have been far more reliable than the C-130 over a period of 19 months.
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No because they have thousands of them and only buy American aircraft and the C-17 stopped production years ago. they only make the one freighter. Oh and they have an $800 Bn budget so can throw taxpayer dollars at anything never mind how stupid. Like retiring 5 year old warships that cost $ Bns.
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@colp9492 I have no idea what you have or have not seen mate. All I know is there are many videos of the A400M landing on just the strips you called 'tactical'. In other words small, rough and probably dangerous. For example 6 years ago the Army flattened a bit of a field next to the old runway at Woodbridge. The A400M did landings and take offs and relevant manoeuvres including 3 point turns. On grass and earth. I will put a link in another message.
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@Dave-us5fq I actually agree that those niche demands will take a while to perfect with the Atlas but its other massive advantages are too big to ignore. As all the armchair experts here seem to do. However I cannot see the point in carrying a very expensive, small, old fleet that has had a very hard 25 year life with all the spares, maintenance and other supports for those few niche demands. I believe the RAF will nail these pretty quickly given its the SAS / SBS and they do NOT have to keep Hercs flying so will have spare manpower. I mean what are we needing? Boat drops for the SBS? They are cleared for high and low level para dropping for the SAS.
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@WilhelmKarsten Oh not you again. I have nailed all your incorrect statements and you STILL keep peddling them. To the RAF the A400M has been a huge success. THAT is all I care about. Now stop harassing me.
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@colp9492 I just give up! A400M has been landing on short, hacked out strips for years. beaches, REME graded fields you name it its do9ne it. It has been cleared for both high level (last year) and low level (in April) troop para drops. France has been side door dropping for 2 years after changes were made to door surrounds. Airbus built us a new 3 x aircraft hangar at Brize. Now is there any further nonsense you wish to share?
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@TheBenj30 I got to "All A400M's where already delivered pre-retirement of the C130's and where meant to complement the C130, not replace them" and sort of lost interest in the rest of your comment. You are just plucking statements out of thin air. In SDSR2010 it was clearly stated that the A400Ms would REPLACE C-130s which would be retired in 2022. That was 13 years ago as the first order went in. This was confirmed in 2021 after Operation Pitting and the RAF confirm this on their own website.
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@TheBenj30 Accuses me of misleading and then pours out a screed of misleading nonsense. Whatever Ben. You have a great weekend.
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@TheBenj30 Look Ben I don't know what drives your over inflated ego but who the hell are you to call my comments 'misleading' let alone doing something on purpose? Just get over yourself fellah. Especially as, if I had your mindset, I could say the same of you. Happily for me my head isn't up my own posterior and I am happy to discuss and develop a conversation but, if required, to agree to disagree. So lets be VERY clear on some facts: 1a. EADS confirms in two areas of its own websites that the 22 were ordered in 2010 and that the 25 was a number during the initial scoping of the A400 programme some years before. There was no reduction in ORDERS. 1b. 6 more will be ordered later this year. 2. The RAF itself in its own website history of the A400M says they were ordered to R E P L A C E the C-130s. Now I will take the words of my ex mob (having flown C-130s myself as a Loadmaster in the mid '80s after the events of '82)) rather than some armchair hero tapping away on a keyboard. 3. SDSR2010 indicated that the C-130s would be R E P L A C E D by the A400Ms in mid 20s. 4. How an Air Force R E P L A C E S an aircraft fleet with another is entirely up to them. Your ego demands that unless Crab Air does it your way then it is wrong and means something else. Again your ego takes over! 5. And I quote: "there aren't enough A400M's to replace the workload done by the C130 alongside the A400Ms" How you can postulate an argument that 22 aircraft each offering twice the payload, twice the volume and twice the range with a higher cruising speed cannot replace the output of 14 x C-130s is just unbelievable hubris. 14 x A400Ms are more capable tactical than 14 x C-130s period. 6. Recent comments concern a very small set of operations for SF use. Now if you can't see political games being played then I am sorry for you. A400Ms have been cleared for every para dropping scenario with the possible exception of RIB drops. But neither you nor I know this and never will. There was no whining you sanctimonious little twerp. I had just had enough of you repeating the same repetitive garbage over and over and making abusive comments about me. Now slope off and do one.
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They do. Its called the A400M Atlas. Twice the payload, twice the volume, twice the range and higher cruising speed. And we have 22 of them vs the 14 x C-130s. Of course the Hercie fanboys are consumed with rage ...
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