Unfortunately, Lord Hastings of Port Stanley is as bad as the Torygraph (of which, of course, he was once editor).
He outlined his proposals for rebalaincing the forces in the Spectator a while ago. In essence, they involved equipping the RN with aircraft carriers and almost
nothing else; disbanding all the RAF FJ units and leaving it with C-130s and spending lots and lots and lots of money on a very large army dominated by infantry. The tone of the piece suggested that he'd have liked to have advocated horsed cavalry as being relevant on the modern battlefield, but he resisted that temptation...
His problem is a very Torygraph-centred one, which is that because 'Eurofighter' has the word 'Euro' in it, it
must be bad; from that stems the point of view that it was designed in the Cold War to shoot down Russians and nothing else and is therefore irrelevant - just like the F-22 and F-15C, then...
And
Margaret Thatcher... was scarcely eager to fight a colonial war in the south Atlantic until her survival required it.
??
What is he on about? As soon as Admiral Leach told her that a) it could be done and b) it must be done, she was on board like a shot. Some of her ministers weren't, admittedly, but she was and took them with her. Of course she didn't want to fight one before the Argentines invaded, but then again I can't think of many PMs who would have said 'lets go and fight in the South Atlantic for no good reason.'
So as well as demonstrating that he's out of touch with some of the basic principles that apply at the strategic and operational levels of war, he's also losing touch with reality. Oh dear.