From your resident 14 year old idiot TA cadet bizjet driver
I have just got back to this thread after a trip to Moscow on my employer's bizjet. That was preceded by a weekend spent training with our troop for deployment on Herrick XIV. As a private-sector taxpayer, having been made redundant recently and now working freelance, but contributing to our defence voluntarily at weekends, I admittedly have a different perspective to some contributors here.
However, I am left wondering what planet some of the supposedly well informed people on this thread live on? Have you actually been to Russia recently? When was the last time any of you actually visited Argentina? These are not countries filled with one-eyed monsters intent on starting unnecessary wars. These are countries filled with citizens who just want to do their best for their families like anybody else. The notion that we need to maintain hugely expensive QRA forces against the non-existent threat from these thriving and increasingly stable democracies is absurd!
I completely accept that we need a core QRA force - but nowhere near the level that we currently have.
There are far higher priorities - especially the threat of airborne terrorist attack on the UK, for which our vaunted QRA assets are no defence. Indeed, I would like Jackonicko to explain what possible scenario our QRA could actually save "thousands of lives"? Presumably he is talking about fighting "yesterday's war" against a 9/11 type attack, the risk of which a repeat has been thwarted by profoundly increased airport security and intelligence activity. Do you think terrorists are not aware of these changes? Do you think they don't read the internet? I can easily provide a scenario by which a terrorist, working as an indvidual (rather than requiring a large team with attendent risk of compromise) could, at a cost of a few thousand euros, evade all security, and destroy any target in central London. Our QRA could do nothing about it. I am obviously not going to provide details of the scenario here.
And Jackonicko, I don't support cutting the RN to levels of other comparably sized countries to the UK. Indeed, the RN nuclear deterrent and diplomatic/humanitarian contribution should be augmented.
All I am arguing against is the disproportionate RAF expenditure on air defence, which can far better be spend elsewhere at the moment. QRA air-defence has been "talked up" since the end of the cold war for job protection, not for genuine strategic necessity.
And while I am on the subject of wasting taxpayers' money, let's bin the RAFAT - they should be ashamed of themselves posing about wasting taxpayers' money crashing jets when there are young men risking their lives and limbs on the front line against a real threat, who have the where-withall and means to carry out the scenario I allude to above.
Last edited by Trim Stab; 8th Apr 2010 at 18:42.