Would you want to fly it on mission sortie after doing that though? I'm dubious of these multi-million pound claims but I don't think they'll consider running it and hoping.
No one talking about the "attack" on the RAF refueling aircraft?
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Would you want to fly it on mission sortie after doing that though? I'm dubious of these multi-million pound claims but I don't think they'll consider running it and hoping.
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No-one would sign that off, even Rolls-Royce. Quick engine replacement is the easiest way to deal with it and send the engine back for overhaul, just in case. Aircraft will be back in the air within days.
A quick google suggests the list price of a typical jet engine and it’s associated service contract is between $15 and $25m each.
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That engine will come off and be sent for a full overhaul which will be into the millions.
Yeah, it's the idea that it'll be written off by this paint that I don't buy. It can be stripped down, cleaned up, and re-assembled. As I understand it, they do that periodically with jet engines anyway.
Q for anyone who knows such things: do the engines need to have matched maintenance schedules? Will they need to overhaul the one on the other wing too?
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Those of you saying about the lax security, do you have any idea of the length of a RAF base's perimeter fence? It runs to several miles and the manpower it would take to covering all of that would be staggering. Normally you will have two shifts of ordinary RAF personnel plucked from their normal jobs to do 7-14 days of guard duty. Each shift consists of 10-14 people depending on the size of the camp. On each shift a person will do a hour or two on patrol or on the main gate then back in for a hour or two. This is rotated between foot patrol, mobile patrol and main gate sentry duty. The ones on patrol do not cover the flight line or technical areas. On top of the normal bods you have the RAF Police who rotate between checking passes on the main gate and mobile patrols as well as issuing passes from the guardroom. If I remember right there was around a dozen of them per shift as well. To cover the whole perimeter fence would take at least ten times the number of personnel and they would have to be out on patrol for longer periods which would lead to fatigue, especially on nights. This was also have a impact on their normal jobs as they would now be short of staff. I do agree that the flight line should have been better guarded but the massive size of the perimeter fence and the small number of guards means that they will always get in somewhere. It's not difficult to sit and watch the actions of the guards for a couple of nights to get a idea of their patrols and their effectiveness. You could put up watch towers at intervals along the fence but again, you would need more people guarding the base to do this. You could use technology and put sensors everywhere but bases tend to be a haven for wildlife and I never came across a base that wasn't fulll of it, especially rabbits which would keep tripping the sensors. To make it more difficult you could put up a extra layer of fence or two as they do around bomb dumps or other sensitive areas but unless the second or third layer is electrified or mined between layers it's just a extra fence to cut through and these scum seem to be very determined. I really don't know what the answer is. Since the fall of the Berlin wall the forces have been massively cut back so unless there is a massive increase in recruitment you can't throw more people at it without seriously impacting day to day operations of all support services.
When I was in the RAF we used to have engineering sections that serviced, stripped and repaired aircraft engines, do they not do this any longer? It wouldn't surprise me as my own trade was dumbed down from investigating and fixing faults to component changers in the thirteen years I was a mechanical engineer (trade group 5).
When I was in the RAF we used to have engineering sections that serviced, stripped and repaired aircraft engines, do they not do this any longer? It wouldn't surprise me as my own trade was dumbed down from investigating and fixing faults to component changers in the thirteen years I was a mechanical engineer (trade group 5).
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Assuming it isn’t some seriously nasty stuff, it will go for overhaul and cleaning with parts replaced if needed. This still costs money as it’s not in the normal schedule or contract.
The engines will have their own schedules - they can be replaced independently without issue. Small codes like magnetic chip inspections may be re-aligned so you do them both at the same time but that’s down to company policy.
Generally no - the RAF is mostly front line only these days, and second line stuff is contracted out, especially for engine overhaul. With AirTanker being a civilian company it works slightly different, but they’ll have a contract with Rolls Royce for support and overhauls beyond a certain point.
Yes, of course. It's obviously serious criminal damage: it's the characterisation of this as having "destroyed" the engine that I am quibbling with.
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At a military location I'd expect a watch tower or multiple, and a fence or two far away so the spotters have plenty of time and distance to spot.
You don't need guards patrolling everywhere. Technology is there now to do all the patrolling from a central location using sensors etc, you vastly cut down on the man power needed. The fact that there is basically nothing at all protecting these places is what is surprising here.
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I don't doubt it's a major job to provide security at a military base and I wouldn't pretend to know how to go about it, but I think the point should be it's not an optional nice to have but a rather important necessity, regardless the cost. This was a couple of overzealous idiots - what could a team of well trained FSB agents do?
As is said generally in aviation - if you think safety is expensive, try having an accident....
I don't necessarily blame those tasked with doing the job, but I think you've answered the question yourself - massive recruitment drive. Not just for this incident but as is becoming rather apparent, due to the state of the wider world.
And that's one for the government.
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Soldato
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Exactly.
Concentric LiDAR sensor rings plus cameras watching all the sensitive stuff with a squad or two of Rock Apes on QRF duty.
Concentric LiDAR sensor rings plus cameras watching all the sensitive stuff with a squad or two of Rock Apes on QRF duty.
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Indeed - it’s a bit sensationalist.
I can't walk near the local building site without one of these shouting at me in a thick Belfast accent.
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We have some army - that’s basically the same thing…?
Drone flying the perimeter can watch more I guess, gives a better idea.
Could link a drone to fly up if a camera box picks something up
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what we need are drones which attach balloons to people MGS V style to get them off the premises if trespassing 
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No.
While a running engine at speed "might" stand a chance of ingesting that and continuing to run (I don't think it's ever been tested) how would you reliquefy the paint once it's already dried in the first place? trying to run the engine up and thrown some liquid in to do it would have all it's own issues and that doesn't even include the vibrations caused by a massively imbalanced engine or the damage caused by lobbing a steel fire extinguisher into the engine as hard as you can.
These engines cost ~£75m each.
Obviously an overhaul/repair won't be that high. But considering it will require a full strip down to identify exactly what requires replacing and what doesn't (assuming the manufacturer is even willing to do such a job as they will have it certify it after) it will be tens of millions for all the engines.