Over at The CatCounters, NickM remarked on the rather sad image of a
As we( me and Dave; mainly Dave) have mentioned before, the project was a farce, but when you've paid to the point where there's a product, you might as well use it. Or at least keep the option of using it.
Unlike the MoD, we do understand sunk cost as a concept, but.....
What we hadn't noticed was they'd put the Sentinel aircraft on the chop list also (for after we pull out of Afghanistan).
These are the ground scanning radar that gives ground commanders a God's eye view (through cloud, the dark etc.). I appreciate that the drones we have are much cheaper that these planes, but these things can do it from a 100 miles away, so they can be used against militaries with decent air defence.
If you have a small Army (we do) this is exactly the sort of thing you would need so it can punch above its weight. And this isn't a prospective project; the aircraft are in service.
Is it just me, or have the Air Force just given up the stuff they do in order to support the Army/Navy so they can keep lots of stuff we don't need?
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I suspect they are assuming (correctly) that we are unlikely ever to go to war without the US.
So if it comes to it, we can use their AWACs.
The British military has been dismantled to ensure Britain can never again punch its weight let alone punch above its weight.
The people doing the dismantling are the liblabcon who simply do as they are told by the private secretariat at the heart of what is laughingly called the British Government in return for much moolah and their moment of fame.
It's n MRA4 actually. The pressure hull is MR2 but everything else is (was) spanky new. And cost 4 billion for 9 airframes. They could have built 'em from platinum coated ocelot foreskins for less.
Julia, AWACS (which we have) do something different. Nimrod is maritime surface/submarine surveillance and AWACS is spotting planes a long way off.
Yes, it is essentially putting a big enough hole in our capabilities that we can never act alone in any significant way again. But if you think this is predicated on us always fighting alongside the USA then you are wrong. This is about making an absolute case for an EU military.
They also scrapped Sentinel - our pocket JSTARS. We have no aerial recon at all. Zilch. We are actually worse off for that than before the foundation of the Royal Balloon Corps let alone the RFC, RNAS or RAF.
NickM: Ah yes, got my Nimrods in a twist again. Nasty.
For some reason the link to my original post on it isn't highlighted so here you go if you're interested.
I did read that at the time Salty.
Majestic stuff and bang on target!
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