Russians up to something.

[Georgies Dad]

The truth is they could come and get us whenever they want to

We do not have a navy as such ,only 24 warships

A small Airforce

And an army that could not defend the realm from invasion ,because our coast line is too vast.

Yes we have nuclear armaments but once they are deployed there are no winners.

Time as a country we wised up to the fact we are not a powerful nation anymore

And all because of defence cuts by current and previous governments.

[coolcat]

Originally Posted by Kennyeth

Did you see their new Jet Bomber? scary
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ghter-jet.html
Ken.

Shouldn't say it but it's a lovely looking aircraft......has a bit of the 'Concorde' look to it

[Astraeus]

Yes, not a good development. We have been sending the wrong signals to the rest of the world. The gross stupidity of getting rid of our Harrier Fleet and our Nimrods is becoming clear.

In fact it is just beyond belief!

The fact that our 'great' new carriers will have no aircraft of our own is incredibly stupid. Talk of having American and French aircraft on it to bridge gap is just talk. Would for instance our great allies allow us to use their aircraft and crews against Argentinian aggression in the Falklands? Think back. No chance.

Although not publicised the Nimrods were in action during last Falklands war. Had a part in the Black Buck raids by the Vulcans. Talk again of using our allies assets to bridge gap is again nonsense. They simply would not allow us to use them. Unless it suits them of course, which in the case of the Falklands it would not. Again a huge gap in capability.

It is beyond belief that these decisions have just been accepted by the British public. The recent defence reviews have left us very vulnerable to any sort of agression in our waters, in the air and on land.

Balance the defence budget properly. Get rid of the white elephant of Polaris. Spend the money on what we need...not what America wants us to have. And....it is a very big AND...sort out defence procurement. That is what needs sorting not cuts in capability. The money wasted in this is scandalous.

The latest two examples are our new carriers where last minute changes cost millions and now they are doing the same with the Joint Strike Aircraft (Lightning 2) where we are committed to buying something that we don't know the cost, we don't know delivery date and more worryingly we are unsure of its capability!
We can't even make our minds up as to which version we want

You should read the Reports to Congress on the progress of this aircraft. We ditched our Harriers in the hope of this thing. We should have kept them until they arrived, working! You would not procure your family car like this!

In fact ..

Chris

[FLYER]

Originally Posted by Astraeus

Yes, not a good development. We have been sending the wrong signals to the rest of the world. The gross stupidity of getting rid of our Harrier Fleet and our Nimrods is becoming clear.

In fact it is just beyond belief!

The fact that our 'great' new carriers will have no aircraft of our own is incredibly stupid. Talk of having American and French aircraft on it to bridge gap is just talk. Would for instance our great allies allow us to use their aircraft and crews against Argentinian aggression in the Falklands? Think back. No chance.

Although not publicised the Nimrods were in action during last Falklands war. Had a part in the Black Buck raids by the Vulcans. Talk again of using our allies assets to bridge gap is again nonsense. They simply would not allow us to use them. Unless it suits them of course, which in the case of the Falklands it would not. Again a huge gap in capability.

It is beyond belief that these decisions have just been accepted by the British public. The recent defence reviews have left us very vulnerable to any sort of agression in our waters, in the air and on land.

Balance the defence budget properly. Get rid of the white elephant of Polaris. Spend the money on what we need...not what America wants us to have. And....it is a very big AND...sort out defence procurement. That is what needs sorting not cuts in capability. The money wasted in this is scandalous.

The latest two examples are our new carriers where last minute changes cost millions and now they are doing the same with the Joint Strike Aircraft (Lightning 2) where we are committed to buying something that we don't know the cost, we don't know delivery date and more worryingly we are unsure of its capability!
We can't even make our minds up as to which version we want

You should read the Reports to Congress on the progress of this aircraft. We ditched our Harriers in the hope of this thing. We should have kept them until they arrived, working! You would not procure your family car like this!

In fact ..

Chris

in other words we are getting a ****** nose soon.

[Gino]

It is very scary how deficient our armed forces are. As an example, when we bombed Syria we used Typhoons out of Italy. It cost something like £35m p/w, which was what it was estimated to have a carrier and a squadron of Harriers off the cost for a year!
That just demonstrates how short sighted government officials are.

[stevestrat]

You don't need a military, just send them a strongly worded letter!

[Astraeus]

http://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/RL30563.pdf

The above document was produced for the Senate in good old USA. A couple of things worth noting from this apart from the obvious cost implications

One
The US Marines are to keep their Harrier fleet active until 2024! Due to doubts over the capability and delivery of the F35B SVTOL version (the one we are getting ) We could do likewise with ours....oooops! We sold them to America for a knockdown price shortly after upgrading them.

Two
Of the three variants the one experiencing greatest difficulty is of course the one we are getting. More complex due to it being the direct replacement for our Harriers. Need for Short or Vertical take off and landing. Using the ramps on our new carriers. No catapults. Yip, we changed rhe design of our carriers for this at huge expense.

Three
An unbelievable comment stating that it was bad practice to put into production something that had not undergone flight testing! What ? You are joking of course! I am afraid not. They believed computer simulation would show up problems. It of course didn't and these versions have experienced fatigue cracking in bulkheads and excessive wear on the hinges of the large flap that opens for vertical landing. Not rocket science when you look at in flight.
In fact there is debate in USA about cancelling it!

Good grief!

[barney bear]

Originally Posted by Gino

It is very scary how deficient our armed forces are. As an example, when we bombed Syria we used Typhoons out of Italy. It cost something like £35m p/w, which was what it was estimated to have a carrier and a squadron of Harriers off the cost for a year!
That just demonstrates how short sighted government officials are.

This is what happens when idiots who have never done anything except cross country running and maybe a bit of cadets at Harrow and Eton are in charge. It would be laughable if it wasn't so scary.

[FLYER]

Originally Posted by barney bear

This is what happens when idiots who have never done anything except cross country running and maybe a bit of cadets at Harrow and Eton are in charge. It would be laughable if it wasn't so scary.

So cynical ...


Yet so spot on ..

[Gino]

I always thought the first responsibility of the British Government was to protect our sovereignty and that of our dependants.