Re: 10,000 Troops On Standby For UK Terror Attack

If the truth be known ... The new aircraft carriers were actually designed WITHOUT a launch catapult ... Then the idiots changed the aircraft spec so the catapult system was ' designed in ' as a modification ( this thing runs the length of the ship and is indeed the main thing a properly designed carrier is built around ) so these new ships aren't actually the real deal but a mosh mash already ... And as for Cameron pulling typhoons out of mothballs ... They aren't ground attack aircraft but interceptors ... Again wrong aircraft for task , and the tornados are starting to show their age too .. Every government likes to save cash by spending less on ' the real things' like military believing war or conflicts will never happen , yet it's British PM's that seem to spend a lot of time either starting them or getting us involved in other peoples arguments expecting their depleted forces to somehow do the task in hand .
I'm certain if the government ran a gardening landscape business it would employ a quango of tree specialist managers ... But cost cut by failing to buy spades , wheel barrows or employ gardeners
The reason he needs to put troops on the streets is because he hasn't got any policemen to do what is their proper role ' to protect life and property' , but a soldier a lot cheaper and indeed if using TA manning then the costs fall even more , it's all smoke and mirrors

Re: 10,000 Troops On Standby For UK Terror Attack

After seeing the amazing response of the police and armed forces in Paris and Brussels, the speed and numbers that were in attendance was very impressive.
I have no faith that we can do the same.
It's no good promising all these measures to be brought in within the next ten years or so. We need them now!

Re: 10,000 Troops On Standby For UK Terror Attack

[QUOTE=TessA;751754After seeing the amazing response of the police and armed forces in Paris and Brussels, the speed and numbers that were in attendance was very impressive.
I have no faith that we can do the same.

It's no good promising all these measures to be brought in within the next ten years or so. We need them now![/QUOTE]






I thought the same as you, Tess.

Re: 10,000 Troops On Standby For UK Terror Attack

http://m.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/0...rrier_badness/



Everything Cameron touches is bad news , from ships to police to Libya and beyond, however he is at present all this country has to place on the world stage if only to prove silver spoon Etonians shouldn't be left to run anything more than a hog roast ( several pigs when asked their sexual preference declined to comment )


This was his decision back in 2010


By Lewis Page, 6 Feb 2013
Analysis The Ministry of Defence is in the pillory again today, being corporately pelted for the recent unedifying sequence of events in which the Coalition government decided in 2010 to fit the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers with catapults - and then abruptly changed its mind in 2012, reverting to the former plan which will see them able to carry jump-jets and helicopters only.
This is an adaptable design ...
The new thing today is the issue of a report by the Parliamentary Defence committee, a group of MPs which is supposed to conduct oversight on British defence matters but which under its current chairman (the Right Honourable James Arbuthnot MP) functions mainly as an advocacy organisation for the rapacious British arms industry. You can read the report here.

Much of the document is devoted to Arbuthnot's usual exhortations for the MoD to provide gold-plated deals to British weapons manufacturers. However the MPs of the committee also take time out in particular to lambast the ministry and the government over the carrier volte-face. They write:

The decision in 2010 to change to the carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter was the largest single procurement decision in the [strategic defence review of that year]. It is clear that the decision was rushed and based upon incomplete and inaccurate policy development ... We urge the MoD to learn the lessons of this closed, rushed and flawed decision of 2010.
This would mean that the associated F-35 stealth fighter buy would need to change from the F-35B jumpjet version to the F-35C catapult type, and this change generally dominated the headlines. In particular, when the government later swerved back to the jumpjet plan, it was pointed out that the F-35C, not being as far along in test and development as the F-35B, would probably not reach the British fleet until 2023 or later - so extending the long wait for restored carrier air capability.

But that was rather to miss the point. Britain having idiotically got rid of its small remaining fleet of Harrier jumpjets, the only aircraft which could possibly be obtained to fly from non-catapult ships would be the F-35B, as it is the only jumpjet now being made. It is also the most complex combat aircraft ever built, the first and only plane to combine stealth, supersonic speed and vertical thrust all in one. It is well known that, while it may arrive a little sooner than the F-35C, F-35B will be more expensive to buy and run and less capable in the air.

In truth, both F-35 variants are likely to be so expensive that Britain will never be able to afford very many of them: certainly not enough to maintain a 40-strong air group with the fleet. If we only buy F-35s, our big new carriers will sail the seas largely empty, carrying 12 jets at most.

But with a catapult ship, none of that matters as it would then be possible to use many other kinds of plane. In particular a big fleet of F-18 Hornets, as used today by the US Navy and many others, could be bought or leased very cheaply as large numbers of F-18s are already in service. The tricky question of fleet radar aircraft also becomes simple to solve once you have catapults: the Hawkeye pocket AWACS as used by the US and France becomes an option, as opposed to custom built - so, expensive - and not very capable whirlybird solutions.

Re: 10,000 Troops On Standby For UK Terror Attack

Hi

Absolutely brilliant post.

Said it far better than I could.

Re: 10,000 Troops On Standby For UK Terror Attack

Excuse me but I just have to say it.... Hoo bluddy hurrah ! at last Cameron has put his sensible cap on and taken monies from the protected overseas aid budget and is spending it on defence !! Never thought he would ever touch his preciously guarded baby project. Welcome to the real world Dave, the people of this country's safety should always come first before your desire to go out of office with the reputation of having been known as the world's number one benefactor !!

Re: 10,000 Troops On Standby For UK Terror Attack

Plus, be in the right place, at the right time!!

Re: 10,000 Troops On Standby For UK Terror Attack

Yep absolutely ...