What Did the Helicopter Say to the Vicar?

A group of vicars had the opportunity to tour Westland, our local helicopter firm in Yeovil. It lies behind security guards and gates and is a bit of a mystery to folk like me who've never been inside. It wasn't fascinating. We were taken round a couple of hangars, one an assembly line for the Lynx Wildcat, one effectively a giant garage for refits and repairs to various Sea Kings and other aircraft.

We learnt a lot, most startling to me was that some of the choppers have been in service for 40+ years, and are still going strong. To keep them airworthy, they're regularly brought in for a refit, keeping the chassis but updating the equipment, adding on a radar here, damping the vibrations there, or completely gutting and refitting the craft. A group of helicopters for Afghanistan had been modified so that they could cope with both heat and altitude.

There are parallels to what we're doing in the church. We have the chassis: the established CofE, parish system, ancient buildings, parish boundaries - things which have been around for ages, and would take a long time to redesign (as does a helicopter). So the best thing to do often is to refit the chassis, either by adding on a few things (new styles of music, new facilities, stronger lay ministry), or by gutting and rebuilding all the internals whilst keeping the outer forms the same.

There is always the question, at what point does a longserving chassis no longer serve the purpose it was designed for, or take too long to repair? Some of the newer craft we saw had been designed to take fewer man-hours to assemble, and to have fewer joints and places where rust, cracks and decay could set in. There comes a point where you spend more time fixing the thing than using it. There's a time either write off or pension off models which have had their day, and develop something new.

The overall vision remains the same: to provide something that will carry people through the air, for transport, attack, defence, rescue etc., without needing a runway (I'm sure there's a snappier way of putting this at Westlands itself). This is the end, and the helicopter is the means. Trouble comes when we become so sentimental about, or attached to, the means, that we are no longer achieving the end.

The other thing they were exploring was creating a suite of helicopters which were easy for pilots to fly: once they had learned to fly one, they could fly others in the same group, rather than having to retrain in a major way. There's another parable here about creating forms of church which don't require a selection conference, 2-3 years in theological training and 3 years as a curate before you can run them.....

John the Baptist, Work Consultant

Most workplaces have their own moral grey areas. Our biggest local employer is Westland Helicopters, or Agusta Westland as they're now known, having been bought up by an Italian company. They make transport helicopters, as well as the Apache gunship- well known both to Palestinians (on the receiving end of those owned by the Israeli army) and the UK forces in Afghanistan (which is where the Yeovil-made ones are deployed). Judging by the latest news, there could be plenty of work for Westlands in the next few years.

Some of the folk I know who work there sometimes wrestle with this. Some are working on non-military helicopters, which means they're not directly involved with the Apache, though they still work for a company which prospers by selling machines which are designed to kill people. Some of the end uses are perhaps more difficult to justify than others.

How big a problem is that? WWJD? Here's John the Baptist in Luke 3
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"
13 "Don't collect any more than you are required to," John told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"
John replied, "Don't force people to give you money. Don't bring false charges against people. Be happy with your pay."

Being a tax collector wasn't an occupation for the morally pure. Working for the occupying Roman power collecting money for them from your fellow Jews, and creaming a bit off the top for your own enrichment. A profiteering collaborator, they might have got on well with the French Vichy administration during WW2. The soldiers were possibly the enforcers for the tax collectors.

This caught me by surprise. Because I'd have expected someone as rigorous and demanding as John the Baptist to tell them to quit their jobs and do something more pleasing to God. But he doesn't. A baptised, penitent, honest tax collector/soldier can serve God where they are by living an upright life within the parameters set by the job. Does that apply to Apache gunships too? What about other weapons systems?

This of course raises a host of issues - there must be a point where you have to bail out, but then people like Schindler would have never achieved what they did without remaining in the system. There's also the question of when and how you try to reform the system itself, and a focus purely on individual morality can be quite weak at this point.

But yes, I would rather have a tax collector who doesn't overcharge me, and a criminal system which doesn't exploit its power over the weak. So maybe its better to have good people in bad jobs than to have bad people in bad jobs, which is what you'd get if all the good people quit.

Still processing this one, what do you think?

Helicopter Top Trumps

Following yesterdays competition on the ferries, it's time to take to the skies. Westlands Helicopters are the major employer here in Yeovil, with thousands working there and at suppliers in the Yeovil area. Hundreds of folk in our parish work there.

Helicopters would be a safer way of transporting troops to the Afghan war zone, avoiding roadside bombs. But money is tight, and the Forces have only so many helicopters available. The MoD currently has a contract with Westlands for more 'Future Lynx/Wildcat' helicopters. These will be delivered in several years time. Several of the current crop of Lynx's were sent home from Afghanistan because they don't work in local conditions, so an upgrade is clearly needed.

Douglas Carswell, MP for Harwich and Clacton, argues that the Future Lynx contract needs to be scrapped in favour of a Sikorsky contract, as the latter delivers better value for money, and more quickly.

Yeovil MP David Laws is "furious that once again this senior Conservative MP is trying to sabotage the crucial £1bn contract for the Future Lynx helicopter...

It would a disaster for both the armed forces and for South Somerset if there was any attempt to stop Future Lynx from proceeding. It is essential that Future Lynx goes ahead, to replace the existing fleet of Army and Navy Lynx helicopters."

The Conservatives are, in turn, 'furious' with Laws for suggesting that scrapping Future Lynx was Conservative policy, and that Douglas Carswell is a 'senior' figure in the party. He had a hand in putting together the 2005 manifesto, but doesn't hold any official party position. Nick Clegg has, however, been picked up by the Yeovil Tory candidate for a radio comment about buying helicopters from the USA.

Meanwhile LabourHome reports that, for all the rhetoric, the Labour government has done precious little to purchase new helicopters for immediate use in the meantime.

For more detail about the background, try Defence of the Realm, who doesn't rate Future Lynx at all, and thinks that the decision is down to forces and party politics and lobbying, rather than actual need. Plenty of stuff in the comments there too.

Issues

- Is this a case of 'British jobs for British workers', and if so, is that in conflict at any level with 'British lives for British soldiers'?

- Is there an issue here between the Army and Navy. How joined up is the thinking? There seem to be different rules and needs for different parts of the armed forces.

- What is the official Libdem policy? David Laws is spokesman on children and education issues, not military.

- If you are a local MP, (or even, a local vicar) it does make it a heck of a lot more difficult to be objective. David Laws' future in Parliament is over if he doesn't publicly side with Westlands. I'm deeply uncomfortable with anything that's made for the prime function of killing people, but at the same time I'm concerned about people's livelihoods and the wellbeing of my community, so I would probably raise more questions about Westlands if I lived elsewhere.

- Forget personalities for the moment. Forget which party everyone belongs to. Is Future Lynx the best option on the table for what the armed forces need? Should commercial interests - as with the decision to sail to the Isle of Lewis - have any say here, and if so how much?

This is an area I venture into at my peril (not literally, at least I hope not), but if you don't ask the questions you don't get the answers. Here in Yeovil, Westlands is top trumps, but if you think it's just a local game of cards, ask Michael Heseltine.