It's can't do much about it.

Pretty much any part of the economy that's worth more than a few billion quid or a few tens of thousands of jobs almost always gets something approximating carte blanche from whoever is in charge. The simple threat of the elimination of a few thousand well-paid (because we're flipping paying them) jobs and the associated tax income results in a total spinectomy for most politicians in government, which is why being a multinational is so great - 10,000 workers or so in several countries give you nearly absolute latitude in all of them and all for threatening to drop less than 5% of your total workforce, which you never actually have to do due to the spine removals. Still, you occasionally do so just to remind them who's in charge.

And just to cap it off, most governments encourage overseas acquisitions as a boost to national prestige (which is almost as mercurial a property as sovereignty).

Where's the Charlton Heston icon? - The only way you're going to get away from the incumbents is out of their cold dead hands.

Once upon a time the UK had any number of producers of military hardware. In the name of "rationalisation", the government of the day insisted that mass amalgamations took place. The end result was of course that there was no competition. You ended up with one supplier of everything. As this single supplier has an absolute monopoly they can do and say whatever they like.

Add into this governments who did everything in their power to emasculate British industry and you end up with not having the ability to manufacture the simplest items, like say refrigerators. Then it can be seen that the present situation was planned.

I got my coat ages ago (thanks mum and dad)

As someone who works within the Defense Sector (for a well known US - sorry British conglomerate), I receive a portion of the pork and my job would be at risk if much of the money went abroad, so I guess I should be jumping up and down shouting for an end to Lewis' rants.

Trouble is, I agree with him.

"that we have the second biggest defence budget in the world, but only the sixth, seventh, maybe tenth most powerful armed forces."

The 2nd? F"£k me sidelways. For this kind of of wedge we should be able to regime change on demand. Or rather, in a spirit of free enterprise, on request of anyone who can meet our bill.

Good business is where you find it.

Mines the one with a copy of Robocop in the side pocket.

The best politicians money can buy... on both sides of the pond.

Well done, Lewis.

Black choppers and AC 'cos I used to work for them.

A good analysis again by Lewis, only let down by the facts ...

Undoubtedly MOD faces a challenge in meeting the requirements of value for money kit for the front-line, whilst also directing strategically important high-tech development work to UK industry, who perhaps aren't as good as US counterparts (however, comparing like-with-like, they are better value for money, since US defence enjoys proportionally far, far greater funding than UK). However, it is virtually only the US (as oppose to France, Germany) that often presents the better alternative offer that Lewis so often recomends. Secondly, buying strategically significant technology from the US requires that the country understands the technology itself, which, given the MOD's run-down R&D capability, requires the involvement of the dreaded 'blood-sucking' UK industry.

As someone who has previously been in MOD, but now works in industry, and is proud to support the UK national interest with advanced technology, I guess I am supposed to be paid a lot more now than I was back then (I am not). I can also recall junior officers in the Army and RAF 'toasting' the relatively large salaries they made in their late-20s or so - they certainly earnt them on deployments and so on, but I don't think their pay could be said to be worse than civvy street. Still I guess I have some big pay days to look forward to!

The rank and file in the MOD are quite happy to buy foreign if it means the best deal for the taxpayer and for the squaddie on the ground.

It's government that puts the kibosh on these deals (Pirrahna V and intellectual property rights anyone?) and then gives the deal to a company that will manufacture it in a marginal constituency.

It is also the same for PFI deals, St Athan for instance.

It's only through the UOR route that capable equipment such as MASTIFF/RIDGBACK/WARTHOG gets to the frontline in good time.

I have quite a deal of knowledge on the way BAE worked and works and for my money Lewis Page is exactly right, all the way through the article. The MoD do do stupid things like moving goalposts and so on (Gov does this frequently; it's the major cause of wasted public money and project overruns, actually) but that doesn't counter the points he raised.

Those complaining about the poor pay would do well to try and find similar jobs (in terms of skills required and used) in other industries because I can tell you that although BAE pay was notoriously bad at times compared to, say, Westland, BAE is still here and 'engineering' jobs were and remain underpaid compared to 'management', which is why people in BAE are always angling for a job with 'manager' in the title rather than field op work.

Anyway, the pork will no doubt continue because, as he observes, the people who care are mostly already in the Forces or actually working for BAE.

(Anonymous & Black Helo for what ought to be obvious reasons)