Originally Posted by
Phil_R
I could wave a flag and declare everything's fantastic in a display of patriotic fervour, if you like, but I think it's better to confront the problem.
The first two things you mention boil down, in effect, to a very small number of Typhoons. The third is an almost-unusable nut-cracking sledgehammer that does not prevent attacks; it can only avenge them in a way that will almost never be appropriate.
I could add to my list of concerns. Nimrod MRA4; scrapped at horrific cost; perhaps a foolish concept from the outset. Type 45; practically unarmed against anything but aircraft, and unable to operate even in that limited role in warm water.
OK. Fine. I have only public information to go on and I am ready to be persuaded otherwise. Based on the available information, though, it is reasonable to conclude that British military procurement is wasteful and ineffective, to such an extent that people are likely to be unnecessarily killed. I do not want bright, dedicated young people burned to death in the hulk of a Type 45 because the propulsion or electrical generation system failed at a critical moment, or because it has no way of opposing any plausible enemy shipping, or because the Royal Navy has no airborne ASW support, despite more than enough funding being available for all of that to be done.
All very interesting but what has any of this got to do with the title of this thread.