Top post there Fletch (from HMP Slade no doubt?).
It's a shame when a CDS is not totally 'purple' but is tinted (tainted perhaps?) with their former hue of blue or green. The shame of publicly having 'Perce' act as referee actually undermines both Service Chiefs and the CDS.
Crikey - the politicoes and madarins need fighting with a united front...and surely this is where the CDS should have brought things together, and it seems has been found lacking in impartiality.
If the Secretary of State for Defence has been presented with a number of Billions to save, then there may be no way to 'magic' more pounds into the budget - therefore it is a battle that can never be won. This is happening right now with the Police through the Home Office.
This leaves no choice but to make some tough choices about what we can no longer afford to do courtesy of HMG.
Fine! The proposal to axe the Harrier might save some cash - but the decision making behind it was so clearly blatant with looking after 'their' own thinking and the 'One Nation - One Air Force' blah was an arrogant turn of phrase at best.
If we as a nation can no longer afford 'n' billions - then we will need to cut something, but if I remember correctly, the reason that the Harrier went into KAF was because nothing else was able to. To then propose axing the only platform that offers that expeditionary ability seems farcical when the nature of threat is as it is now.
Even suggesting chopping the Harrier after the capability that the GR1s & 3s were able to provide the RAF from Forward Operating Locations in the face of the Red Army coming over the hill seems arse - particularly if Russia is talked up as being the next threat.
(Shall we re-start the "Why the JSF instead of the Hornet / Rafale?" thread now.)
