Thanks for the replies - some useful gen there.
Il Duce,
I'm happy to take the flak - I have been in the military for 18 yrs and have spoken to a few controllers as part of my MSc research - that was not clear from my first post. I wouldn't dare state that civvie controllers were better than military - merely referring to the fact that MLS/LVPs and Cat 3 approaches are something we might experience when we go on our holidays and not in one of our aging aircraft.
I am aware of the multipath propagation issues which require increased ILS spacing in Cat2/3 operations. MLS manufacturers state that because multipath propagation is not an issue they can support reduced separation - presumably back to the 3 miles mentioned previously. Press sources reveal that many of BA's fleet have been vaccinated with MMR and can make use of Heathrow's newly installed MLS and keep the passengers happy - just like they did before Xmas.
I understand that Heathrow signed a contract for 4 MLS installations a few years ago but the docs I looked at seem to indicate that only one is available. I would however, be interested to hear why they are not being utilized.
I appreciate this capability is academic for the military. The only time we might need to recover so many aircraft in a hurry is if the Red Arrows went IMC in the middle of a display.
IF