Originally Posted by
pr00ne
typerated,
Are you seriously proposing that the UK totally ignores an unidentified radar trace approaching the UK air defence region, abandon any pretence at a recognised air picture in the area ,and just let anyone roam about? For a start I would expect that would be a NATO obligation not met, and then there would be the Daily Mail headlines, and then the Pprune outrage...
But of course by the time we intercept them, they have already been trailed by our NATO allies, so they are hardly "unidentified" , and as far as gaining an understanding of the air picture, I would suggest we have this before the QRA aircraft are launched. Generating Daily Mail headlines and snapshots for the family album would in fact appear to be about the only tangible benefits from the majority of launches. By all means keep our skills sharp, but in this day and age, there is no substantive reason to go chasing every Bear, IMHO.