Originally Posted by
Lima Juliet
MPN11
i think the RAF lost the plot when they kept the Field Sqns of the RAF Regt but gave the Rapier SHORAD to the Royal Artillery. It should have been the other way around with the Infantry charged with ground-based defence of our airfield and the RAF doing SHORAD. Quite how we have kept the Regt is quite shocking really and we really the UK needs to go back to basics on its military:
1. If it floats on or in the sea then it is Royal Navy - I would include the Royal Marines in that, but no FAA.
2. If it lives in ditches then it is the Army - no Watchkeeper, Wildcat or Apache but get the RAF Regt.
3. If it flies it is Royal Air Force - no Regt.
Nice and simple. Seeing the Army fixed wing assets coming to the RAF and losing the BD to the Army is a step in the right direction in my humble opinion.
The RAF Regiment put forward an excellent business case for them getting all SHORAD when the decision was made to put Rapier under single service control. Army complained that they had been cut too far as regards cuts to the Royal Artillery and that they should get all Rapier. MOD sided with the Army..It then took them 2 years to get their act together to man the FI deployment (Mentioned in an RAF historical society seminar about Guided Weapons in the RAF back in 2015).
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