Originally Posted by
Declan275
My own view on the whole argument for an interceptor is that it’s about air policing rather than old school ‘they shall not pass’ stuff. In this example, an Irish jet would replace the RAF one that goes up towards a non squawking, non talking aircraft in Shannon FIR and gives the ‘ aircraft at position xxx, height xxx, heading xxx please say your intentions’ spiel that you occasionally hear on VHF so that everyone else can avoid them.
There’s also the airliner lost comms/ damage assessment type of flight that are rarer. As the service to the state is currently provided by the RAF on a the basis of a bilateral agreement with the UK, de facto, there is a recognised need for it at Govt level. The question is do we want to have sovereign control over it like nearly everyone else.
Declan, exactly. The only issue I have with what you say is based on my ignorance of the facts. You mention a non-squawking aircraft. That predicates a primary radar system. Does Ireland possess such a system?
Our aviation authorities
do possess state of the art secondary
radar, but this type of
system can only track 'compliant' aircraft who leave their transponders switched on. ... In such circumstances,
Ireland is one of the only states in the European Union which cannot 'see' into its airspace by way of
primary radar.
15 Aug 2016