1/ it is cheaper to loose X mill£ helicopter than secure it.
That's not what I said. I said you can protect it but at what cost. In WMPs case they were on an International airport meeting Internationally accepted security standards. If you want to put them in the middle of nowhere with the same protection as the nuclear weapons we used to protect in Germany then yes you can guarantee its security but the cost would have you and everyone else complaining
2/ The cost of the Sentry or some other device is more expensive than the insurance excess.
Again didn't say that. Surrey had the system (or similar) and got attacked. These systems are good but if they keep going off then they soon get ignored. And they only tell you there is an intruder, or rabbit, and you then have to do something about it. Note: Not the case at Surrey
The excess will be paid by taxpayer & or every private helio owner in increased premiums, + the insurers must be getting wary of insuring these machines as this is not the first that has been attacked.
Is there an excess? None on our 4 helicopters. If no Police helicopter was attacked then the premium will say the same. At the time it was unthinkable that an aircraft be attacked (no power of hindsight). What would be the premium increase be if attacked (unthinkable at the time) against cost of protecting? It's all about RISK. Are you worried about other peoples excess if you lose something or crash your car and it's your fault? If it is your fault do you accept the loss and don't claim? Again modern society doesn't give a damn about anyone else.
3/ There is an added cost in public safety, not to mention hire charges if one is available? or time to incident if you use cover from another force, + the loss of use to neighbouring force.
Risk v Cost again. There is alot more mutual support going on than you know. There is also a review of ASUs going on in ACPO at the moment and they are using a geographical plot and not force area for the distribution of Air Support. WMP could be covered by Central Counties, East Midlands and North Midlands, not my idea!!. I used to fly across WMP to get to Staffordshire jobs with Central Countries. Not my idea to scrap units, I know that each Force needs its helicopter for many reasons but it's all about MONEY and the accountants can save money with fewer more widely spread aircraft. I hope not but they may not replace WMP for this very reason
4/ So there is no manpower to respond to an emergency call on a large commercial airfield.
The call from the Devices we used was over our closed radio system, It could have been over Police Tetra, airfield security, or straight to dispatcher, or to all if the unit was a bespoke one.
You ring 999 and scream that you are being shot at, see how long it takes to get a unit on scene. How long does it take to run 50m and throw a fire bomb? These systems are good but an alarm is just noise it doesn't do anything and it won't deter or scare a criminal intent on knocking out a threat to his way of life.
5/ The helio appears to be written off or close to how many mill £?
Insured they don't care!!how long for replacement?
Months if not years to spec and build a new machine. Good excuse not to replace it. Not me in charge..
6/ Thunderbird trolley is in use with some forces I believe.
WMP don't have a hangar to put it in so a trolley no good. How long is the average vehicle pursuit? And you want to drag the aircraft out first? Back to ringing 999 "Thank you for your call. We will be with you once the ARVs are taken out of the garage. There will be a delay as we have to shut the doors again otherwise people will criticise us on the internet for not protecting our valueable equipment.
7/How long before the next attack ? now it appears so easy?
Hopefully not soon if the lessons are learnt from this. Life is an evolution, we find something hurts so we don't do it again. Man has been doing that for millions of years. .
I hope this answers your questions? If you read my original post I explained it's now things are. Hopefully all the critics will be volunteering to be Special Constables, RNLI or Coast Guard volunteers etc. to help improve society? Thought not.
By the way, how much are you selling the Sentry unit for? 