Jackonicko, agree with you on this one. To deter someone, you have to have the capability and make sure he damn well knows it. If you are secretive about your capabilities, the opposition will infer that you don't have them. We never made any secret about the reaction times of the V QRA force; the imperative was to get airborne within the 4 mins warning time. However, we must respect the sensitivity of the serving guys and gals to what is presumably classified information.
Interesting that my France-based daughter tells me that French TV has publicised the readiness states of the Armé de l'Air's interceptor force. (2 Sqns @ 2 mins)
I am writing to my MP saying how heartened I was when holidaying on Skye last week to see the RAF Tornados playing hard in the gorgeous weather, and how discouraged I was when I droppped by RAF Middleton St George to find it masquerading as Teeseside International Airport. The RAF deployment posture now seems totally at variance with the likely threat. We need fighter stations in the south of England and, of local concern here, to REOPEN CHIVENOR!