Originally Posted by
pr00ne
Er, because the RAF HAS NO GBAD of any kind and hasn't had since the 1990's when the Bloodhound force was retired without replacement and the RAF Regiment Rapier force handed over to the Army.
Your description of why HMS Dragon is delayed makes perfect sense, but it does raise the question of WHY the RN chose to deploy that vessel and not one of the other two or three operational T45 Destroyers?
I know they haven't had GBAD since the Rocks had it taken off them. Whether that was a sensible decision is one for the CAS of the day, given their role. It is however, unarguable that the RA have GBAD and could be there an awful lot quicker than deploying a ship 2000 miles. Hence the riposte to the original cheap shot on "teaching the RN what rapid response means" made in the original WAR ROLE for REDS threat (where this came from when the mods got a bit over-active) and again for avoidance of doubt, not crab-bashing..
As for the T45, Duncan is due on a NATO tasking and Dauntless is in for a quick fleet time support period. No easy answers. Overall, lack of direction from PJHQ/StratHQ or whatever its called now.