Sometimes, when you buy a new toy, you’re going to have a little trouble making heads or tails of the instructions. They’re never written in plain English; most of the time, you’re lucky if they’re in Engrish. The Australian government has recently bought some new weapons systems from the militaries of France and Italy, which is good. There’s only one problem: nobody in the Australian Defense Force can read French or Italian. Australia’s Defence Materiel Organisation has had to hire a translator to read the instructions on its latest weapon, the MU90 torpedo. Here’s the government’s embarrassing audit of the 13-year, $655-million-dollar mistake:
”As a result of acquiring a torpedo manufactured in Europe, most of the original data (required to accept the MU90 into service) is written in French and Italian. ‘The French and Italian militaries are preparing significant amounts of classified technical data, up to a secret level, for delivery to Australia under a trilateral agreement to meet these requirements. ‘There is an immediate need to translate portions of these documents … with a continuing need to translate documents (or part thereof) through to full certification of the system, including operational test and evaluation and transition activities.'”
The need for a new weapon is obvious, since Australia is only a dong’s length away from China. Still, to not consider the fact that something made in Europe for France and Italy would have directions written in French and Italian? That’s just dumb. To not have anyone handy in the military who can read French or Italian, so you need to fly a translator into Canberra? Also dumb. I guess what they say about military intelligence is true.
Tags: MU90, Defence Materiel Organisation, MU90 torpedo, Australian government hires translator to read torpedo instructions, mistakes, technical problems, translation, torpedo instructions only come in French and Italian, European torpedo instructions only come in French and Italian, mistakes, Canberra, Australia
