Asturias56
The problem with the UK military is a litter historic. We were once a Great Power, as were some other European Nations if you go back far enough. However where those nations have learned to live with their reduced perceived status, the UK has not. These other nations realised what they could afford and structured their procurements and commitments in line with that. In the UK we have a habit of looking backwards rather than forwards, and as a result we end up with some ludicrous defence spending decisions, a prime example being two new aircraft carriers which we appear to struggle to crew, protect and indeed support. However for an island nation we managed to misplace our maritime patrol aircraft until very recent times.
While discussing maritime patrol who was it who signed off on the Nimrod AWACS experiment or even building Challenger tanks ? We have a history of inventing things, but being unable to produce the product to time or budget. Time to be more realistic and talk with countries and companies who can do that and let’s not always think we have to have the highest most expensive toys, because the Ukrainian conflict appears to be showing that you do not need the most expensive or advanced it needs to be good and reliable.
Cheers
Mr Mac