The RAF, too, must transform itself from a fast-jet flying club into a tactical air force. It must shift its focus to helicopters and transport aircraft,
No... It must not. This is the fallacy thrust upon you by our "great political leaders". Political expediency at it's best. The politicians garner votes not by having an effective retort to
any threat but rather by minimizing the expense of defence and giving the savings to the feckless chavs and immigrants in the form of benefits and entitlements. Right now the "buzz" is close air support and transport, (both long range and battefield), in sandy places. So, everything else is being sacrificed. Pointy jets are irrelevant for the defence of the home skies and they are hardly needed against Terry. Aircraft carriers, the very pinnacle of force projection, are a bit useless in Afghanistan so they are under the hammer. Big battle tanks aren't much good there either and small, fast moving recce vehicles and lightly armoured vehicles are no answer to the IED's found there - so they are sacrificed for IED safe vehicles... and on and on...
Everything is being done to "patch the holes" for current operations at the cost of the Forces ability to fight any conflict. It is a short sighted, politically motivated mistake that needs to be stopped immediately. Either we commit to fighting in sandy places while maintaining a proper ability to fight when and where needed in the mode that fight requires or we do not fight in sandy places. Right now we're close to being defenceless if Belgium and Holland gang up on us.
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Tallsar: I'm pleased to see I'm not the only one un-hypnotized by our "leaders"...
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