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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 2952.PDF
570 FLIGHT International. 9 October 1969 Lessons of the TSR.2 story Have they been learned or could the fiasco recur? WHAT WENT WRONG with the TSR.2 project, and the pros and cons of its cancellation, will long be the subject of debate in British aviation circles. Several books and countless articles have been written on the subject: the latest contribution to TSR.2 literature is a study commissioned by the Royal United Service Institution, called Crisis in Procurement: a Case Study of the TSR.2. It has been written by Dr Geoffrey Williams of Southampton University, assisted by Mr Frank Gregory and Mr John Simpson, and brief reference to it was made in a news item in Flight last week <October 2 issue, page 512). The extracts from it reproduced here referred to the chronology of the pro ject, the validity of the original concept, the mechanics of the cancellation, and the authors' views on whether another TSR.2 case might occur or whether the lessons of it have been learned. Summarising in a nutshell the conception and demise of TSR.2. the authors say: The TSR.2 was conceived during 1955. It was cancelled on April 5. I%5. During these ten years TSR.2 became the centre of heated political controversy in Britain, making ii difficult to separate the true history of the project from the surrounding political mythology and Parliamentary rhetoric. TSR.2 is important because during Ihis period the mechanisms for control of British aircraft research, development and procurement were being altered to cope with the increased complexity of modern military weapons systems Since TSR.2 was one of the few military aircraft under developmeni at that lime, it served as a guinea-pig for their evolution. Reflecting on the historical significance of this project, and the effect of it upon future similar items of defence planning, especially in the European collaboration field, the study comments: The TSR.2 project has its place in the evolving story of British defence procurement. As a result of the lessons learned, its projected successor, the Multi-role Combat Aircraft (MRCA). if it ever materialises, can perhaps avoid the fate that befell the TSR.2. How did it all begin? Quite simply, as Dr Williams and his co-authors recall, with the RAF decision to replace the Canberra with an aircraft which was a Canberra with some thing added: The TSR.2 project stems from Air Staff OR Branch planning, around 1955. for the "•ideal" light bomber. The TSR.2 was planned not simply as a Canberra replacement but as an aircraft that could be more properly described as the "ideal" Canberra (because the Canberra had never been regarded as anything other than an interim aircraft by the OR Branch). What came out of Air Staff planning on the Canberra replacement was a formalised requirement—known as General Operational Requirement 339. This formal description of Air Staff thinking on a TSR aircraft which was finalised in mid-1957 was made available to Government establishments and the aircraft industry in October 1957. This seven-page document set out the general strategic and technical requirements for the proposed aircraft, and met requests from the SBAC for consultation during the early design stages of new Government aircraft projects. GOR 339 was set against a strategic- background which required an aircraft capable of operating in the European theatre and East of Suez in support of our various alliance commitments. It was thought that one aircraft could perform similar tasks in both environments—for example, in the European theatre one requirement was for a system to perform deep strike missions against hard targets. Similarly, East of Suez operations, which in 1957 were seen in terms of Korean war scenarios, demanded an aircraft capable of destroying targets like the Yalu bridges. For a long time, TSR.2 was shrouded in secrecy, but by the end of 1958 became public knowledge. It was also clear, too. that something rather more than a Canberra replacement was being planned: During the early part of 1959 the Air Staff formulated, with some participation from Vickers and English Electric, a first version of the somewhat more detailed specification for TSR.2, called Operational Requirement 343. This specified more exactly, at greater length than was possible at the GOR stage, the proposed aircraft. For example, under the heading "'General Design Requirements," were specified the requirements for strike/recce in separate sorties
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