British MGs in the Falklands War

Hello Mr.C! The patent's for the ORIGINAL BMG have long expired. I went into this with the Boss when I worked for said company. However.......it was the way the engineering blueprints were obtained. That was questionable!........But that's another story!!!! ;)

The QCB variant WAS 'Admired' & 'Imitated' (ALLEGEDLY!!!) from FN. But this 'Company's' Variant has minor details that set it aside from the FN Version. A Rep from FN visited whilst I was working there on one occasion. He was NOT pleased with what he saw, & later legal action was threatened. However, this was overcome by pedanticaly pointing out the different aspects of 'This' Company's design. So a Patent Infringment case could NOT be bought upon 'The Company'!..........

I could write a book on the 'Horrors' that are perpetrated within the defence Industry! However, a lot of Peoples jobs would be lost subsequently. & those People have Families to support!

It is well known within the Defence Procurment sector what 'Alledged' Fraud & malpractice goes on. BUT, the 'Agent's from the Procurment Dept don't seem interested!! Perhaps the Wining & dining on a fine scale. & the Expensive Xmas hampers from SOME Companies are 'Possibly' the reason for this?..........

And also well know when contracts for Millions of pounds are up for grabs. Are the 'Pension Fund' Payments executed to secure deals!..............(ALLEDGEDLY!)......;)

Afternoon Mr H,

It never ceases to amaze me how much industrial espionage, copying and outright eye watering waist goes on in Defence circles....quite astonishing.

My friends company also sells measuring equipment to the Defence aerospace sector, this is a typical story involving one of the companies he deals with......a typical example of wasting our money (I am sure your goodself and Peter could add many more tales to this one)

Certain maintenance items for the Tornado GR4 were ordered by a desk bound fighter pilot at Abbey Wood, £3,000,000 worth. These items were supposed to be collected from said company by the MOD...but were never picked up....fast forward two years, a different mahogany bomber pilot ordered the same amount of gear...he was told the last lot never got picked up and were still in storage with the company.......short silence on the phone, followed by.... "Don't know anything about it, make some more"....!!!

This must be a depressingly familiar story to you chaps!!!

Theres your problem mrclark, they put a fighter pilot in charge of procuring equipment for a bomber.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mrclark303

Afternoon Mr H,

It never ceases to amaze me how much industrial espionage, copying and outright eye watering waist goes on in Defence circles....quite astonishing.

My friends company also sells measuring equipment to the Defence aerospace sector, this is a typical story involving one of the companies he deals with......a typical example of wasting our money (I am sure your goodself and Peter could add many more tales to this one)

Certain maintenance items for the Tornado GR4 were ordered by a desk bound fighter pilot at Abbey Wood, £3,000,000 worth. These items were supposed to be collected from said company by the MOD...but were never picked up....fast forward two years, a different mahogany bomber pilot ordered the same amount of gear...he was told the last lot never got picked up and were still in storage with the company.......short silence on the phone, followed by.... "Don't know anything about it, make some more"....!!!

This must be a depressingly familiar story to you chaps!!!

---

Hello Mark! only just scratching the surface of cock up's & extrortionately priced equipment for the M.O.D there Mate!

& not forgetting my Favourite maxim which sums up Governments worldwide!...........'Saving Pennies, & wasting Thousands'!.................;)

During the early 80's or so, whenever you needed something and were foolish enough to ask, there'd always be a sharp intake of breath through gritted teeth folowed by the question '.........whoa...... who's budget is this coming from?' Followed by 'HOW many....... or HOW much..........' followed by '....I should co-co!!!!!!' Then, one day, after a chat with an old ex Korea veteran Quartermaster, it all fell into place.........

From then onwards I would always ask for TWICE what I needed, TWICE as much ammo allocation or TWICE as many pyrotechnics or TWICE the mileage allowance or TWICE as......... anyway, you get my drift! Thereafter, whenever I asked for whatever it was I was met with the sharp intake of breath and a splutter into the coffee cup BUT I'd be prepared to compromise - in the name of the economy of the nation of course. I'd come away with slightly more than I ever wanted or needed, the QM was happy knowing that he'd beaten down the cheeky Sergeant or even cheekier Lieutenant or the harrassed Captain with a zillion other crap jobs to do by tea time.

Worked a treat, every time!

In fact, one Summer, I had such a large mileage allowance for the borrowed Land Rover that I was using in Germany, that I was begging the others to make use of it on the basis that unless they did, I'd end up with thousands of miles to spare! The thought of my hard bargained-for mileage allowance PLUS the hard earned loan of a Land Rover for a month would be wasted was something that I wasn't prepared for.

Now THIS is a wandering thread...

Peter, I knew one sergeant back in the '70s who was not above ringing up stores claiming to be a captain (by name) from another unit and say he was sending someone to pick up the previously requested and authorized items (stores' paperwork missing? 'That's not MY problem!'). He'd get what he was after each time - partly, I suspect, because no one else was game enough to try it.