the mod should be able to undertake this work at a far lower cost than a commercial company which must make a profit for its shareholders ! next we will see charges to be rescued ,this is a privatisation too far & someone will make a fortune out of us taxpayers

i do not feel at ease with that decision. What is the next step ?

What next? The Army, RN and RAF set to compete with private security contractors? There is a great sense of comfort to be derived from knowing that lives at sea are protected by members of our naval and airborne forces. And anyway, are the costs not met already from UK taxpayers' contributions?

Petty minded and ignorant "bean counters" strike yet again!
As ex-RAF, I have seen firsthand the cock up's of MOD outsourcing. The rescue experience and skills maintained compliment those required on the war front. But the desk chair loonies have no idea what they are doing; the only target's they are focused on are those in their bloody spreadsheet numbers. We are losing a fantastic life saving service....what a disgrace!!! No offence is aimed at the civilian and ex-forces that will fly for the private company and will do an equally good job. However this is a crazy idea, it’s just “squeezing the balloon� it will just move money around and cost all of us more overall.

Lets be honest with some situations people should be charged ! Going afloat without proper safety equipment just ask the RNLI ,, makes me angry.

RBS can't even run a bank properly without being bailed out by the taxpayer. How long will it be before they find out its less profitable than they first thought, and we have to bail them out again to keep the service running?

I doubt it was the RAF/RN's decision. Just another way for the government to save money by shaving more and more "wasted money" off their budgets. Shame.

This really is very shabby.
Bean counters again attempting to put things right with a spreadsheet! When are the mandarins of government going to realise that this cost cutting exercise is a waste of our money, when the Services are already providing this as part of their duties, and it is effectively free? Will this new service eventually become a cost centre that will have to make money, to upgrade the service they supply?

Sailing the East Coast Rivers regularly I feel very secure knowing your SAR possibility! Even if they have to react for a nono, it is a good exercise. Going private leads to nothing, see your Rail and Drinking water! Don't go private!

this is just confirming the feelings they have for the british sailing fraternity eg those emprisoned in somalia.

UK PLC is going to need rescue itself very soon.

How is it going to save money? The RN and RAF will still need to train and equip dedicated SAR services for military use. What "would" save money, would be a cutback in unecessary deployments due to political correctness, where people are frightened not to call out a helicopter even though its deployment is totally unneeded..

Which people Theresa? HM Coastguard are responsible for tasking during SAR operations.

every thing that has been privatized has cost more this is becouse comanys have to make a profit.
look at water, gas, electic,trains busses and bin men.
am i wrong or are thay all thick?

Thank God and the generosity of the British and Irish public for the RNLI. May be the time has come for a levy on all small boats to assist the RNLI who perhaps could also take over responsibility for helicopter SAR, however as the armed services have to train on helicopters and have them available for use, I would have thought that a dual role for the armed services to use the helicopters they have now for Coastguard, rescue and emergency services inland would have been cheaper than using a French company, an American Helicopter manufacturer and a UK bank which would have been bankrupt if it had not been for the UK taxpayer bailing it out, to put together a plan for coastguard rescue services. This sounds like a very expensive scheme to me which might save some investment now, but will cost a fortune to the UK economy for a generation to come.

Sharky reports that the MCA is responsible for tasking SAR helicopters. But Wikipedia says that is the role of the UK Aeronautical Rescue and Coordination Centre at RAF Kinloss, which tasks RAF, RN, MCA assets as required according to the nature and location of the incident. The point being that the UK's overall SAR assets comprise more than just helicopters. Does Sharky believe that the MCA/civilian contractor will also take over the tasking of RAF SAR Nimrods, Mountain Rescue Teams etc?
The reason that politicians get seduced by the claims of contractors to be able to do these things more cheaply is that, in the beginning, the contractor relies on fully trained former military personnel. But once the role is taken away from MOD, the supply of ready-trained staff dries up, so the contractor has to train his own and, inevitably, his costs go up. But by then, he has the taxpayer over a barrel so can charge what he will. Robert and Peter seem to have a grasp of reality.