Great news for Lossiemouth jobs!

[BeJayKayven]

Surprised there wasn't a big story about this on the news, It's great for the area!

Boeing £3bn deal

[Superjaggy]

This is fantastic news for the area, much needed. I read it on Twitter, can't believe it wasn't on the national news. Why wouldn't it be newsworthy?! Perhaps some celebrities should have been involved...

[BeJayKayven]

super I suspect it wasn't on the Scottish BBC tv news as it is a UK Government project and it doesn't suit the SNP political agenda in Scotland to have that reported 😕

Tbh if it was Nicola Sturgeon making the announcement it would be trumpeted from the rooftops.

[Superjaggy]

Really? I think the MP and MSP for Moray will both have lots to say about it, but for some reason they just aren't getting the air time... Maybe tomorrow, eh? (Yes, they're both SNP)

[BeJayKayven]

Didn't mean to touch a nerve, just my opinion

[Superjaggy]

Quote from BBC: The P-8 aircraft is designed for surveillance, as well as anti-submarine and anti-surface ship warfare

No worries Jay. I think the real reason very little is being said about it, is that David Cameron announced a few years ago that the Nimrod fleet at RAF Kinloss (just along the coast), used for surveillance and anti-submarine warfare, would be scrapped and the base closed. It cost £billions to scrap the re-build schedule which was already in progress, many of my friends lost their jobs and the impact on the local economy was huge.

So it's a bit of an embarrassing u-turn by the Westminster government. That's my view on it, in any case.

[cdtaylornats]

It's not a U-turn the anti-submarine and reconnaissance role was always up for replacement. The Nimrods were just getting old and were beginning to cost lots to maintain, it was a 50 year old airframe. The Boeing announcement might be a useful stick to hold over the SNP - no Tridents, then we need to move the surveillance to where it's needed and the factory can't be in a foreign country.

[Superjaggy]

Cd, the replacement programme had already begun - two fully complete MRA4s were dismantled and all other parts scrapped and it was the cost of this that I was referring to. The surveillance fleet was therefore scrapped without any plans for replacement. Until now.